When Time is Broken
by Ninjagorulz
Summary: The third of the trilogy, sequel to "When Time Starts to Break!" With Myrana and Morro captured by Lloyd, the flow of events is changed beyond measure! There's no wishing it all away here, no matter how hard you want it to be true...
1. Chapter 1

**Guess what? I'm back! It's been a long time, and I'm still working on this fanfic. Apologies for the super long hiatus, I fell into a different fandom for a long while. However, since March of The Oni has come out in another country, I am back in! **

**And for all the reviewers of my previous story, I give you guys a special apology. You were all nice enough to read and enjoy the story, and I left you guys hanging for a year. I'm sorry. **

**And for all of those who read this, thank you for enjoying my story! Seriously, I went back and re-read some of this, and realized that Myrana is super un-empathetic. She is nothing short of a jerk when I read this, haha. But hey, that is a bit of the point but I know it can be hard to relate to.**

**I hope you guys enjoy the story, and I vow that it will be done! **

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"Now of course, where are my manners? What's your name?" Lloyd turned to face Morro.

"Morro."

"Well, _Morro_. You weren't very smart by coming here, were you?" The green ninja taunted, and Morro growled, stepping forward dangerously.

"Myrana, make sure he doesn't hurt me. Keep him under control." At his command, I grabbed onto the chain connected to the collar around Morro's neck.

"I thought that maybe one day I'd be you, but now I'm glad I'm not." Morro growled out, and Lloyd stiffened.

"Let's see about that. Myrana, follow me and bring Morro along. Seems there's a room downstairs too, Echo really knows this place like no one else." After Lloyd's order, Morro looked at me with an expression of desperation. I shook my head sadly, pulling on the collar to get him to follow.

"You're that desperate? For what, it's not li-" Morro started, but Lloyd was quick to glare at him.

"I want to use Myrana. She's a tool, a master at finding all the secrets that we can never see. She's taught me how to manipulate the world around me, and I know there's still so much to learn from her. Besides, she needs to pay back Ninjago for what she's done to everyone, what she's done to _me._ Myrana is a knight turned queen in the world's game of chess, an irregular piece."

"Nearly murdered you, right?"

"How'd you know? I would've thought that she'd hide it."

"First time she met me. Got upset she became practically immortal, not really in the best state of mind."

"Well aren't you lucky. You got a warning."

"What do you mean?"

"She told you her worst act the moment she met you. If I were you, I'd run faster than the wind in the opposite direction. You should be happy I didn't just order her to punish you. I'm sure she'd be very creative."

"Oh really?"

Lloyd began to laugh. It was cold and heartless, a reminder of how much he's changed for the worse.

"I'm only going to trickle water on you. Still painful, but it could be so much worse." I flinched at his admission, realizing he was unintentionally doing something similar to 'Chinese Water Torture.' Except, it was going to be like pouring acid.

"Myrana, you know this kind of stuff?" Morro noticed my expression of understanding. I nodded in response, and Lloyd looked curious.

"Let me guess, you only thought of the possibility as a ghost." Lloyd rolled his eyes, finally reaching the bottom of the stairs. I shook my head, and Morro looked at me in confusion.

"Water doesn't do anything harmful to people in small amounts. If you're alive, why would it affect you?"

"Yeah, Myrana, why don't you explain as I set you two up." Lloyd smirked as he brought us into the small and crowded hidden room in the wall.

"I-it's known as 'Chinese Water Torture.' A small trickle of water is placed above someone's forehead, and the person beneath cannot move," As I explained, Lloyd found a large nail and began connecting more chains to Morro and the nail, "It sounds harmless, but the constant feeling can become unbearable, especially with ice-water. There are other forms of torture that include water, but none use as little as the 'Chinese Water Torture' system that I know of. I don't know any history about it."

"Interesting." Lloyd offhandedly replied as he took the main collar chain from me and attaching it to the large nail. Curling it up with a heavier weapon, Lloyd turned to me.

"Sit down next to him, and I want you to sit still no matter what until I tell you to move." I followed Lloyd's command, settling down next to Morro as Lloyd left to grab something.

"I thought you said he was nice." Morro simply spoke, and I frowned. He was nice, just a long time ago, I supposed.

"This isn't going to be easy. There's going to be scars for both of us, mainly on the inside. We grow back our bodies pretty easily." I nodded in response, glancing at the small rip in Morro's right shoulder seam thanks to the deepstone dagger. Lloyd re-entered, carrying a few small funnels and other equipment alongside a bucket of water.

"It's a bit sudden, but I've got the supplies. Don't worry, I'll keep it simple. Just a trickle on your arms should be enough." Lloyd mumbled, putting the funnels above us and angling them above our arms. Buckets were placed underneath the funnels, placing one of both of our forearms above them.

"That should do." Lloyd finished setting everything up and began to pour in water in my funnel. He put something inside to make the trickle more gradual, and the water that hit my arm burned less than deepstone, but still painful. I breathed in and out frantically, unable to scream or even squeak. The water would fall through my skin, but unlike deepstone would not leave any sort of hole. Why water went through and deepstone did not was a curious thought, but was pushed to the back of my mind thanks to the fire that spread up may arm thanks to the water. Luckily, it was tolerable thanks to my previous experience with being unable to follow orders, that was much worse than anything else.

Switching to Morro's, Lloyd poured in the water and Morro glared at Lloyd through the entire process. As the water trickled through his skin just like mine, Morro hissed but said nothing. Lloyd squinted, but left Morro alone.

"If Myrana is anything to go by, I'm sure the water is painful. No need for me to make it worse and risk you going back to the Cursed Realm. I didn't catch the Realm Crystal, they've been putting fakes all around Ninjago, so it would be an unwise idea to let you go back." Lloyd shrugged, and faced me instead.

"When the water runs out in both funnels, just come up and get me, and we'll have a good chat about what both of you can and can't do on this island." Lloyd commanded, walking back upstairs, leaving the room's strange stone door open.

I stared at the water falling through my arm and into the black bucket, feeling each little droplet of water scorch my ghostly limb. How much pain would Lloyd or anyone else be able to inflict on me as long as he wore that necklace?

In the quiet of the room, I began to hear Morro's small mutters. Most of them were about beating Lloyd into a million pieces, and some were about the pain caused by the water. As I listened to his threats, I started to think of my own.

Lloyd didn't have the Realm Crystal yet, so there was still an advantage. The Ninja, if they were willing, could easily raise a larger group to fight off Lloyd. I'm sure the Preeminent would spare a few more ghosts to fight Lloyd. What Lloyd was doing to us, if the Preeminent was looking, may be taken as an act of war. Of course, I have no qualms about Ninjago. I just want it to stay in my past is all.

Suddenly, a small portal opened. Always unpredictable, those things. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to close it right now. Lloyd made me wait and sit still, so I must follow those orders.

"Another one of those portals, think we could get out using them?" Morro asked, and I frowned. Reluctantly, I shrugged. Earth had many tools, getting something that could help us was a gamble.

"So we're not getting out of here." Morro deadpanned, and I shook my head firmly. Leaving Lloyd behind and never seeing him again was one of my top priorities. We would get out, but only if we were patient and played his game long enough to find little loopholes. Attacking full force would only immediately reveal all of our cards. This was a game of strategy and deception, one I knew well.

A small book fell out of the portal, hitting me on the side of my head with a light thunk. I glanced back up at the portal, reminding myself that ignoring the _stupid extreme pain _also meant that I had to beware my surroundings also. I had become good at isolating the pain, but it unintentionally affected my other senses too.

Reading the cover of the book that now sat behind the bucket, it read: "The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America." I smiled, a slight bit of nostalgia hitting me. I was not in any sort of politics or law class when I was on Earth, due to my age at the time, but I knew the significance of that document. Since I was American, I knew the Constitution protected my speech and other rights. Unfortunately, Ninjago didn't have that. To this day, I knew very little about the government and their role.

"Is it important?" Morro tried to view the book, chains rattling in protest. I turned back to him and nodded slightly.

"Will it help?" A shake of the head was my response.

"That portal better help us eventually, because this pain is still agonizing, despite my experience with it." Morro grumbled, and I shrugged. While I too had learned to ignore pain after a long enough period, it was still something I had to actively push away.

Using the portal as a distraction from the pain, I looked into the void and seeing random objects pass by. Tablets, golf clubs, cars, random metal beams all passed through the inky black of the other side. Another object eventually fell out, a car battery that made a loud crash. I only sighed in response, knowing the objects that would fall out would be random, and I'd likely have to put it back.

Wooden stairs creaked as I heard Lloyd rushing down the steps to find the source of the loud noise made by the battery. He burst into the room, dagger in hand. Once Lloyd noticed the portal, he relaxed.

"Right. Almost forgot about those." He sighed, and another object fell out of the portal. It was a figurine, with brown and spiky hair. In its hand held an oversized… Key? Whatever this figurine was from, I did not recognize. Lloyd walked over and took the figurine, using it to scratch away the portal.

"A battery, a book and a moveable creature. Weird." Lloyd hummed, picking up the book and the figurine. I frowned at the mention of the little key-holding figure being called a creature. I looked like him, I assumed the figure was male, once upon a time. Monster I may be, but human I once was. They were times I cherished, and memories faded over time. To call my happiest memories and taint it with 'creature' was insulting.

"Important? Tell me." Lloyd waved the objects around.

"I find your words against the figurine derogatory to my past and culture. I once had a body shape like that back on Earth, though the hair is not very common and the giant key is a mystery to me. The book is a copy of some of the most important legal documents for the creation of my home country. I would be careful with your commentary." I growled, and Lloyd glanced back at the items.

"Keeping them doesn't seem like too terrible an idea. Besides, I might need the battery anyways." Lloyd mumbled, deciding to leave the room with the two objects. Silence reigned over the small room, and Morro began to struggle with the pain once more. As I saw his struggle, my mind began to focus on the pain as well, despite my continued success at avoiding it.

Against my own rational thought, I turned to face my arm that sat above the bucket and watched as water continued to fall through my skin and cause excruciating pain. Fortunately, the drops were slower than before, and once the water passed it would no longer hurt until the next drop. It didn't even have that ache after soothing pain, but every bit hurt.

So we both suffered silently, able to handle the impossibly long yet quick bouts of pain caused by something so simple as the very liquid that likely covered most of Ninjago's planet. Surprisingly, I did not know the name of said planet. If anything, Ninjago is all the people know here. I suppose the realm is named the same thing, but it's just not like Earth and its many countries and cities.

At least I took comfort in knowing that this could be much worse, and that I had gotten the better outcome. Lloyd was now gutsy enough to try and torture us, but it was nothing compared to what I could come up with.

The time that it took for each drop to fall lengthened, eventually coming to a stop. I glanced at Morro's funnel, seeing that it too had stopped.

"Glad that's finished." Morro sighed, and I stood up. Gliding out of the room, I flew up the stairs and knocked on the floor. There wasn't exactly a door, just a hole with stairs leading to the main upper room. Already, Lloyd had customized the small space to hold a makeshift kitchen. How Dr. Julien lived here previously without such was a mystery, since there was only a table, not even a restroom.

"You don't seem crushed into a million pieces. Good enough, I suppose." Lloyd shrugged, walking forward to glare at me much closer than I was comfortable with, but I stood my ground. Lloyd can fool Morro and the Ninja that he doesn't care anymore, I cannot be tricked.

"Still got some bravado in you, huh? Keep it under control, I'd not have you get too cocky with your brand new partner." He rolled his eyes as he walked downstairs, carrying a wrench in his right hand. Squinting at it, I noticed some familiar scratches.

"Curious? It's yours. I do have the authority to take and use any of your old possessions, you know. It's all stuck in one room back in Ninjago. Some theorists came around at looked at them, but kind of lost interest in you once they learned what you truly were. Of course, they never told anyone about you. You're too painful for strangers to talk about you."

I glared, knowing that it was all fact _and_ an attempt to get under my skin. Nonetheless, I merely expressed indifference. Lloyd only observed my actions in return, his own expression confident as he continued down the stairs.

As he walked into the small downstairs room, he frowned at Morro's confidence.

"I guess it'll be a long talk tonight." He spoke, and Morro only gave a wide grin in return. Lloyd unhooked chains and left Morro with the one collar and chain around his neck. Once free, Morro floated beside me. Lloyd raised an eyebrow, but made no comment. Turning away, Lloyd began to walk up the stairs. Following behind, Morro begrudgingly floated alongside me. Morro was glaring at the back of Lloyd's head, almost as if he were trying to burn a hole through him.

Suddenly, Morro launched himself at Lloyd in an attempt to grab the necklace. Despite Morro being as fast as the wind, the fear of pain I would feel if I failed and the instinct of the mark on my shoulder reacted just slightly faster.

I held out a single hand, gripping the chain that was connected to Morro's neck tightly as the taut links clinked in response. Morro hissed, his hand still outstretched for the necklace that Lloyd wore. Unfortunately, his hand was just short, and Lloyd looked smug as he turned around in surprise. Lloyd only looked at Morro for a moment, his face flattening.

Taking the dagger placed in a small sheath on his waist, he sliced a small cut on Morro's cheek with a quick and powerful swing. The cut healed almost instantly, but if Morro's flinch backwards was anything, it was not pleasant.

"Try that again and I won't be so merciful." Lloyd warned, putting his dagger back into the sheath. Morro only moved to stand on the stairs, no longer floating. I noticed his slight hunch, he was tired. The deepstone did make it harder for him to use his natural ghost powers, it must have been tough to float. While a small detail, I made sure to remember it. Morro did not have to exhaust himself to show power here. Not while I'm around.

As we entered the upper room, Lloyd sat down and gestured for us to do the same.

"Alright. Rules. Both of you can't leave this island without my permission. You don't get to tell anyone where we are, unless I say so. If I ask you do do something, you do it. Keep watch while I sleep, and don't fight. If you two have an argument, come to me. I may hate you," Lloyd pointed at me, "But I'm going to be fair, unlike you. Screw up, get the hammer. Stick to the rules, and I won't hit. Same for you _Morro_."

"I can't believe Wu let someone like you grow up." Morro hissed, and Lloyd stepped forward. His face was twisted into fury, and he backhanded Morro harshly. He stumbled, rubbing his cheek then stood up straight in defiance.

"How you know Sensei isn't important now, but learn this. You insult me or Sensei again, it won't be just a slap you'll have to deal with." Lloyd threatened. Morro only glared back, will unwavering.

"I've dealt with worse." Morro replied, standing strong.

"Nice to know." Lloyd hummed, turning away. I glanced back at Morro, trying to express my worry. The all-powerful green ninja wasn't some kid anymore, and I only made that worse. He's learned to watch and observe, just like me. Words are not just weapons.

"Also, you two will be like maids. Keep this place clean, close the portals when they show up, manage the place in general. I'll be nice and let you two live downstairs. You're allowed to mess with things in there, just don't use any of it to try and hurt me. I know Myrana's clever." Lloyd shrugged, and I frowned. He was giving us a surprising amount of leeway, and so I remained stoic. An opportunity like this would not come up again without gaining Lloyd's trust, and I doubted that it would be easy to rebuild it if I broke it down.

"Once we hit the two month mark, I'll take you with me back to Ninjago to find the real Realm Crystal. I will need you, Myrana, to use some of your powers. You are now allowed to get used to them, and practice. Possession included. However, while using your powers, you're not allowed to try and use them against me. You are my knight turned queen in this game of chess, my life and it's continued existence is your goal at all times."

I only gave a slight nod, and Morro glanced at me with surprise. He said nothing, realizing after a moment I am only playing along. There was time to make a new plan. This was only home maintenance at the most.

There was _time_.

And if anyone was good at manipulating it for the future, it was me.

"Luckily for me, you two don't necessarily need food. So, I took the liberty to make my own dinner." Lloyd turned to the small mobile oven, how he had brought it over was a mystery, and pulled out a small pie of sorts. Chicken pot pie, I'm sure. Frozen most likely, and I frowned at it.

"Worried for the sustainability? Don't, turns out Ronin does delivery. He's got some small drones, been experimenting with them and what they can take. Pretty useful, huh? It's also a secret channel, no one can even detect it." Lloyd smiled. I huffed and looked around at the small kitchen in better detail.

The small oven with a stove was obviously fire-heated, given that it had a small thing at the bottom for wood or coal. A small fridge sat further away from the oven and a sink sat off to the side with a few tanks of water nearby. Filters sat in them, keeping both sets of the water clean. A few little boxes sat as makeshift cabinets and countertops. Simplistic, but got the job done.

"You know, ghosts have a severe appetite for food. I'm curious as to how neither of you have started diving for this yet."

"Myrana hasn't been a ghost long enough, and she doesn't focus on it. It's like reading a book, you get absorbed and forget the world. She _is_ constantly on her toes, there is no reason to focus on food." Morro replied, and Lloyd looked at Morro with his own wicked grin.

"I asked how _neither _of you two seem to want this. What's your excuse, _subaltern_?" I frowned, I didn't recognize the word. Whatever it meant, I'm sure it was degrading.

"Not really any of your business, to be honest. If it isn't obvious, then it isn't something I want to share."

"If you say so… Say, I never knew independence could leave behind such a smoky flavor. You should try it sometime." Lloyd smirked, and I balled my hands into fists. He didn't just burn a copy of the Constitution, the very _basis _of American law…

A torn and battered pocket Constitution was held tightly in Lloyd's hand, and I gave an angry huff. How dare he burn the thing millions stood for! It had been long since I had seen the country of the United States of America, but I still remained a citizen. Alongside that, it came from Earth! If he wanted to get rid of it, he should've just waited to throw it back in! Earth was my entire home planet, and he's decided to go and destroy a copy of one of the the fundamental documents of my home country!

I wished so desperately that I could punch Lloyd for burning the small book. Lloyd only laughed, and put the rest in the oven fire.

Huffing furiously, I stopped floating and looked up at Lloyd. I may still care for his wellbeing, but I will make sure that he will pay in his own ways. There would be consequences for burning the very foundation for my previous life.

This will be a two-man war.

A hand on my shoulder brought me out of my angry stupor, and I glanced at Morro. The message was clear, even without words. Don't play his game. Wars were not just fought with weapons, especially when it was just between us. Stripped of my free will, words, pen and sword, this would be a game of manipulation. It was time to play with fire of my own.

"You're friends, aren't you? I've seen that look before. I wouldn't trust Myrana if I were you, she's the most dangerous weapon in this entire universe."

"Who's to say that I'm not?" Morro retorted, and I frowned. In all honesty, Morro didn't know that I had hurt people more than once. I had never told him, he never asked.

"I have no doubt she got you to read strategy or other sorts of books, but have you read the history? The most ruthless and vile of rulers, torture going far beyond what I put you through downstairs?" Lloyd sneered, and Morro frowned.

"Why should she make me read that? At this rate I'd be more than willing to fight you, and I don't exactly want to hold back. You should be happy that I don't know how to hit you without putting her in danger."

"How long have you known her?"

"I'd guess a lot longer than you."

"Then you're obviously not educated enough to know when you should leave."

"I'm as educated as your Sensei!" Morro yelled, his lack of school being a sore spot. As he stepped forwards, I grabbed onto the burning chain that connected to the collar around his neck. My scar warmed in warning, only adding to the slight panic in my head.

"So he taught you?" Lloyd asked, and Morro simmered down, realizing his mistake. Morro remained tight lipped, just staring at my grip on his collar chain. As he stepped back, I let go and watched the chain fall back down to settle right beside his knees.

"I thought so. Better to just keep quiet around me. There's no better teacher than Myrana when it comes down to making and detecting lies." Lloyd glanced at me, and I only squinted in response.

"Until I can trust you both to do more advanced tasks, I'm going to let you go back downstairs. Do whatever you need, I don't particularly care. Just get back up here at sunrise." Lloyd huffed, looking out at the ocean and the slowly darkening skies above it.

Playing the role of the obedient child, I grabbed onto Morro's wrist and began to drag him downstairs. Now given the permission to practice my powers, I wanted to use them to my advantage. This was power, this was a chance. Perhaps I could not use my powers against Lloyd, but I could attempt to master them.

Unlike Lloyd, I thought on the level of small scale that impacts the big scale. If I could learn to control something and make it vibrate, I could learn how to copy or talk with possession. Yes, there were many advantages to going through with this.

Shuffling into the room, I turned to face Morro. I would need him to tell me when I turned invisible, and other such things. However, he seemed distracted. I frowned, realizing he must be having troubling thoughts. His needs came before my own in this unintended prison. I Floated up to him and awkwardly tapped his shoulder. Morro flinched, looking at me with wide eyes before calming down quickly.

"Oh. Do you need something?" Morro quietly asked, and I shook my head. I pointed at him, trying to get the message across that I wanted to know how he felt.

"Me? What's… Wrong with me?" I nodded in response, and Morro sighed.

"I'm not sure what we're going to do, especially when I can't seem to keep my mouth shut." Morro huffed, and I put a hand on his shoulder. I already had the strings of a plan. If I learned to master the art of possession and sent a message through a person, or perhaps arrange something in a certain order, then I could get help again. The Ninja did not favor our situation. Helping Morro and I back into the Cursed Realm only led to gains, rather than cons. Of course, I would need to avoid inter-realm war. I would not allow war on a peaceful planet such as this.

"You've already got a plan, haven't you? I can see the spark in your eyes when you've figured something out." Morro smiled, and I shook my hand back and forth. Things change, so do my plans.

"I don't know enough about this situation to make decisions. This isn't something I'd ever picture myself going through. I'm being held captive by the very person who I wanted to be with a technical alien!" Morro stressfully laughed. I only squeezed my hand on his shoulder.

"Really, I don't know what to do. I'm literally torn away from what makes me, well, _me_. I can't use my element, and now I'm starting to feel… Almost _empty_. Yet, it feels stuffy at the same time. My greatest defense is gone, and I can't use any other powers without straining myself or just having them be useless. What good is being intangible if you have a solid collar around your neck? Useless!" Morro hissed furiously, starting to shake. Moving forwards, I gave Morro a hug.

I understood his emotions. My life had changed in a blink all those years ago, and my greatest defense had also become mangled and warped. Academics were my strong point, and I could easily go through school without effort. Being thrown into Ninjago meant that most if not all of what I knew had to be changed. Constants were no longer constant, and everything was different. Even my body had changed too, turning into this small and limited Lego minifigure. It had not changed, and it now never will.

Being here was also something I never believed in. Ninjago was a dream that I could only watch and never truly chase. Once I got here, I caused the entire world to shift and change from the original destiny it was meant for. Now, things were not the way they should be.

"Sometimes I wish I was as careful and calculating as you are. All the time, you seem to understand things that I don't, managing to do everything I can't."

I floated back and shook my head. To become like this took many different factors, and not all of them were pleasant. Constant fear, sympathy and empathy both at the flick of a mental switch, learning to lie, knowing how to hurt others, the most efficient ways to destroy lives in mere seconds… The list goes on.

"A high price for it, huh?" Morro sighed, noting my troubled expression. I only nodded in response, before looking at the ceiling to show that Lloyd too had struggled and become like me with time.

"Do you know what happened to him?" I turned away in shame. My mistakes were large and plentiful, things I just wanted to leave behind and let go.

"The first things you said to me, you said that you… Tried to kill him? Left him with scars?" Morro started, and I nodded again.

"What else did you do? It takes a lot of betrayal to make someone like that." I shifted back to face him, unable to give him answers through my words. Slowly, I raised my hand towards him, and Morro only stared at it.

"Do you understand what you're offering? It's so personal, to ask to share a memory. This kind of thing doesn't exactly exist in life." Morro hesitated, and I frowned. This was personal. All of my mistakes in Ninjago would flash before his eyes, and I wasn't sure if he could handle it.

It was time I stopped hiding myself from him. He deserved to know why we were both here.

Pushing my hand further, Morro gave me one last look.

"You're sure?"

I nodded, and he took my hand.

Proceeding to blast my thoughts, I recalled every mistake I hid away from him. From the day I first stabbed several Hypnobrai, to when I killed my Bizzaro clone. Further beyond, I showed my paranoia, my coldness towards Kai and everyone else on the team, the times I had with Euphony, each bit flashed across his mind and mine.

Each one was only a short snippet, the lack of major contact causing the connection to have just as short of a passageway for the memories. But after a few seconds, I felt Morro tear himself away from me.

"I-it wasn't even just _once_. You've done this for _years_! Who would even teach you this? It's _inhumane_!"

I only looked down, and Morro gasped.

"You cannot be serious. There's _more_?"

Yes. There's _so _much more. Until you ask, you'll never know.

"I'm... I'm going to need some time. You'd better leave." Morro mumbled, and I obeyed. As I floated upstairs, I heard a soft crash. Frowning, I quickened my pace and glided into the room upstairs.

Lloyd was stumbling blindly through the small room, once again sleepwalking. Had he not taken precautions to avoid this? Scanning the room for the airhorn I vaguely remembered from a good while back, I saw no sign of the red and loud object. Huffing, I carefully watched Lloyd continue to feel around in the dark for no apparent reason. This time, he luckily did not carry his dagger.

How arrogant, but useful.

Choosing to not wake him up, I shuffled around the windows to herd him into the middle of the room. In the back of my mind I wondered if Lloyd could sense me or something similar in his sleep. Perhaps it would explain his confusion about sleepwalking and why he always moved away when I was around.

Unlike the first night I had seen Lloyd sleepwalk, he seemed almost… Pacifistic this time. Refusing to get near, and never once raised a fist. I suspected he was dreaming about something mild enough to not trigger his violent defenses. Of course, I doubted that the dream would continue to be mild. It may have been years for the both of us, but Lloyd was unable to repress memories like me. He could hide them easily, but I knew that his heart and mind were not stone.

Slowly, Lloyd began to twitch. It was an antsy twitch, and eventually his hands turned to fists. He started to mutter, but his words were mismatched and slurred. Soon, he started dashing towards me with fists raised. Dodging his attacks, I had forgotten that there were large and glass-less windows behind me.

Of course, he had to come in in fists blazing and fall out of the window!

Diving after the knocked-out green ninja, he tried to swipe at me but I got close and held him around his torso. Slowing and stopping the fall before the sand below could injure Lloyd, I softly dropped him on the sand. Other objects were scattered around the beach, clothes, knives, the dagger Lloyd liked to use, and the stupid airhorn. I picked it up swiftly, and pointed it straight towards the wobbly and stumbling green ninja.

"WHAT THE-" Lloyd yelled over the blare of the airhorn, and I stopped pressing the button. Lowering the loud device, I stood upon the sand and tapped my foot in annoyance. An old memory popped up, where Lloyd had saved me from falling out of a hotel window. Sighing, I walked over to Lloyd and gave him a very obvious fake smile.

"What happened?" Morro called down from the lighthouse, obviously concerned.

"What happened? Oh, wait he said that." Lloyd slurred, disoriented and rubbing out his ears, or where they're supposed to be anyways. I shook the air horn in his face, and Lloyd blinked.

"I thought you were only supposed… Oh. Right. Seriously, I don't sleepwalk when you're not here. You just seem to screw up everything about me just by existing. We're fine, just sleepwalking!" Lloyd yelled to Morro, looking at the littered and dark beach. Morro went back into the lighthouse, deciding that whatever was going on was okay.

"Well, I don't think I'll be sleeping again tonight. Might as well pick all this crap up." Lloyd tiredly muttered, starting to pick up all of the things that fell from the lighthouse. Sighing, I joined him and began carrying all the items back up to the main room upstairs.

Slowly, the pile of random items moved back into the lighthouse, and Lloyd stared tiredly at the stairs he would need to climb.

"Screw this. Just, fly me back up there or something. I'm too tired for this." Lloyd yawned, and I obeyed his command. Of course, an annoyed huff was what he was greeted with as we flew off.

Gently setting Lloyd down on the creaky wood of the main room, I floated in front of him with a glare. I was _not_ going to save him every night. He needed to fix this problem, and not with pills.

"What?" Lloyd growled, and I rolled my eyes. I couldn't exactly explain my thoughts unless Lloyd ordered me to.

"Is it important?" I nodded, and Lloyd muttered something I couldn't hear.

"Just say whatever you need to."

"Fix your sleepwalking problem, and _not _with pills. I do not want to use that airhorn every night." I answered, and Lloyd sighed.

"Fine. I'm still using the pills though, I need them to sleep." Lloyd answered, and I frowned. It was something, but Lloyd needed more help than I could provide. He needed a counsellor or therapist for the pills. That statement in of itself was a sign he was addicted, and addicted bad. Perhaps not enough yet to take it to extremes, it seemed that he knew that he shouldn't take more than a few a day. Still, it was very risky to take any sort of pills that weren't from a pharmacy.

Ninjago did have pharmacies, but they were very limited. There were some painkillers and other such medication, but Lloyd was using Ronin to get his substances. While Ronin wasn't a good or a bad guy, he was a wild card in terms of quality. It wasn't a good idea to try and buy things from him without having some way to prove that the product was what you paid for.

Gliding back down to the bottom floor of the lighthouse, I decided to practice my powers. Doing my best, I closed my eyes and tried to make myself intangible while floating in front of the door. Placing my hand where the wall should be, nothing resisted my touch. Hesitantly, I floated through and opened my eyes to find myself on the other side of the wall. I smiled in relief, but my face returned to its neutral state as I realized that it was likely Morro was somewhere in here. As I stared at the boxes and few bookshelves covered in a light green glow thanks to my aura, I thought about reorganizing the room.

"I didn't know he started sleepwalking that early." Morro noted from the other side of the room, arms crossed. He was right, it was quite early in the night. Midnight was likely still a few hours away.

"Look, I'm still getting over the fact that your actions weren't just once, and you _chose_ to do them too. I just don't understand why you would do that. Just, stay over there and do whatever you want. I still don't want to work with you right now." I nodded in response, and shuffled off behind some boxes to practice my abilities.

Grabbing a spare gear from the top of an open box, I held it in my hand. I closed my eyes and held the gear up high. It took a good minute or two for the gear to fall. Becoming tangible again, I picked up the gear and repeated the process.

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**Well, I'm off to write some more! Hopefully I'll have some more written out so that a good update schedule can be made. This will be cross-posted onto Quotev, if you are interested there.**

**Review, favorite, follow, share, whatever. Have a great non-hiatus filled day!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Happy Valentine's Day! Here's an update for you guys in celebration! Also, be warned, this is probably going to be the most angsty and violent book in this trilogy. Let me know if you ever feel that the rating should change... **

**Pappillie: I'd love to see your art! My gmail is aden8419, I don't really have social media, haha. I would gladly scream about how amazing you are to draw fanart, but I think that the Author's Note would be really long at that point! **

**I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

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Eventually the skies started to lighten, letting me know that it was time to take a break and go upstairs. Lloyd had not made any noise throughout the night, letting me train and practice. I assumed that I had managed to become intangible at a steady one minute and forty five seconds. It would take more practice and time to shorten the wait for intangibility.

Standing, I put the gear away and decided to think about re-arranging the boxes and shelves. It would be helpful, at least. Besides, it was something I could control. Unlike the rest of my 'free will,' I could choose where to put the boxes and what went in them. At least Lloyd was very conservative with his orders. He knew I didn't like particularly following his commands, but he's already crossed a line.

Burning anything from my portals easily put him on my hit list. Once I was free, he would lose things too. I wondered if there was any sort of picture he cherished, and how easy it would be to take it.

However, I only opened the chamber door and started my way upstairs. I glanced back to see if Morro was following, and he was. Yet, he looked exhausted, the chain rattling from his shaking. Stopping my ascent, I floated down to try and help Morro in any way I could.

"I'm fine." Morro growled as I approached, and I stopped in response. Glaring, I looked him in the eyes, daring him to try and say it again.

"I'm fine. Let's just go upstairs." He grumbled, and I turned away. If that's what he wanted so badly, then he could have it. At that rate, he would barely make it through the day or just collapse. When that time comes, I'm sure he'll tell me what's going on.

As I entered the room upstairs, Lloyd looked tired too. However, he was only mildly tired compared to Morro's trembling figure. A lone pan with a few pancakes in it was sizzling on the stove, with Lloyd standing by. He noticed Morro's exhaustion, and raised an eyebrow.

"Seems there are some long term effects when you're exposed to deepstone. You look like you might poof at any second." Lloyd noted, and Morro huffed.

"I'm _fine_."

"Why don't you take a look in the mirror I just got over there? This place is as furnished as it's going to get." Lloyd offered, and Morro sighed in annoyance. I looked around and noticed a few differences from last night. A small bathroom was installed, and other sort of kitchen tools hung around the room.

"Turns out my powers are useful for more than just blasting things. They can cancel out noise, and only really loud sounds take a good amount of energy to keep out. Turns out your 'training' might turn out to be more useful than I thought." Lloyd smiled, noting my curiosity. I only turned away to go look at myself in the mirror alongside Morro.

"I look fine." Morro muttered under his breath as I approached. I said nothing, adhering to my earlier plans. He would eventually tell me what was wrong.

Staring at myself in the mirror, I inspected myself thoroughly. I had not been able to see what I looked like in years. I had doubted much had changed, and I was right. My hair remained messy and just above shoulder length but had a slight green tint instead of a natural milk chocolate brown. The mark on my left shoulder was still dark green, alongside the large scar on my left leg. My face was not too different, but a slight discoloration of darker green hung around my eyes, but wasn't nearly as noticeable as Morro's.

My outfit was still green as it had been since I had turned into a ghost, basically looking like a women's sporting outfit. A covering sports bra and boxer-like underwear. I didn't worry about not being modest, since I found that I had gotten used to wearing less clothing and that I didn't really care anymore.

Turning away from the mirror, I looked at Lloyd. There was likely something he wanted us to do, but I saw the spark of recognition in his eyes. He knew Morro couldn't do anything, so I suspected that Lloyd would make us do menial tasks until he collapsed.

As Lloyd began to serve himself breakfast, I watched Morro wobble and sway in the corner, staring out at the ocean. Keeping my eyes on him, I saw his knees shaking more than before.

"Morro, would you take the pan off the stove? Put it in the small sink over there." Lloyd instructed, and Morro slowly followed the task. Just as Morro was about to drop the hot pan into the sink, he collapsed but the pan did successfully make it into the sink.

Rushing over, I saw Morro wasn't even breathing. While unnecessary for ghosts to breathe, it was still habit. If he wasn't breathing, than this was a big problem. Grasping at the burning collar around Morro's neck, I desperately looked at Lloyd.

"I don't know what to do. It isn't like there's an encyclopedia on ghosts." Lloyd glared. I huffed, and returned to looking at the collar.

"I'm not taking that off." Well, I suppose next time you're in danger, I'll just happily laugh and say 'screw you.' As I tried to push back Morro's hair, if it was possible, I felt myself all of a sudden being drained of energy.

I pulled my hands away, and re-inspected Morro's condition. No longer did he look completely exhausted, and more like one night of bad rest. Habitual breathing returned, and Morro's eyes started to flutter awake. I sighed in relief, he would be okay.

On the other hand, I felt tired as well. It was as if four hours of sleep were just taken away from me. Perhaps there was some sort of energy transfer, something that you couldn't do in life. While this was a temporary solution, I doubted that I could constantly empty and refill my energy reserves.

"W-what… What happened?" Morro slurred, and I looked at Lloyd to explain.

"You walked in here looking like you just got hit by a hurricane. You kept saying that you were fine, and I asked you to put the pan in the sink. You did it, but collapsed afterwards. Somehow, _Skivvy_, managed to revive you."

"Skivvy?"

"You're getting nicknames now. Why not adopt the idea that Skivvy used to have? Nicknames only mean no respect. Remember that, Subaltern." I frowned, my vocabulary was only so large. Until I had a dictionary or a thesaurus, I would not know what he was calling me. For all I know, he could be saying that I'm a flower or something.

"What? Too scared to say 'Morro?'" Morro taunted.

"Skivvy, every time he uses your original names, slap him hard. If you even think about him or yourself, think and write the names I gave you." Lloyd ordered, calmly putting away his dishes after finishing the pancakes.

"You're taking away her _thought_? Myrana-" I slapped Subaltern in the face, and he stumbled to the floor. Staring at the floor in shame, I realized that only Subaltern would be able to remember our original names. In my head, I would only be able to remember Skivvy until Subaltern removed the necklace from Lloyd's neck. It felt as if the original names were fuzzy and just beyond reach.

I wasn't sure if I even wanted to convince the Preeminent to not cause inter-realm war. This was a point I could not accept. If he truly wanted me out of his life, then he should've never tried to hold me here.

Tonight, I needed to get Subaltern out of here. If he could return to the Cursed Realm, then he may be able to raise up some forces. Unfortunately, I could not help Subaltern, but I could try to give him the right idea. Just escape when I'm distracted, and do it quickly. We were surrounded by water, it would be very easy for him to escape.

"You're going to pay for this. With your life, and every other life in this realm. It may not be at my hands, but I can guarantee you that Myrana-" Another slap,"will make you suffer."

Subaltern was right. I decided that Lloyd would no longer be named as such, but will be Revanche. I vaguely remembered the French word from a book in the library, literally translating into 'revenge.' It had another definition, I believe it was something about taking back lost land.

Both worked well, and Revanche would regret this moment. Three strikes, Revanche.

You're out.

* * *

Nighttime had fallen, and Revanche had only had us clean up and organize the lighthouse some more. However, I had seen Subaltern sneak a small protein bar that Revanche had left lying around. At this point, we were sitting in the room downstairs and Subaltern had returned to being exhausted.

He pulled out the protein bar and began to nibble on it. I chose to wait until he was finished before explaining my plan. I planned to have him jump into the ocean, and inform the Preeminent what was going on, if she hadn't already been watching. If anything, then he wouldn't have to be here at least.

Besides, I already knew Subaltern didn't like me all that much anyhow. My past was surely too much to bear.

"You're not going to let him go, are you?" Subaltern asked, putting away the protein bar. If he was willing to talk, then I was going to explain my plan. I held my hand out waiting for him to get the message that I wanted to use the memory sharing. It was personal, but there was no other way for me to talk. My mind had already been compromised anyways, there was no sanctuary left.

"You want to do that again? It feels really awkward doing this… And last time wasn't a good experience." Subaltern glared at the hand. I only shook my hand in an attempt to get him to consent to this.

"Fine. Just, don't ask for this again so soon. It's strange." He finally decided to allow the memory share, and he walked to grab my hand.

Ideas whizzed by as I got my plan across, and this time Subaltern didn't fly away so quickly. The plan morphed and fixed itself until it finally reached a solid agreement. Subaltern let go, and we were both taken out of our thoughts.

"I wish I could say that I'm scared to leave you behind. Instead, something in me tells me to take this opportunity, run and never look back. I know you can handle yourself. Yet, I still care about you. No matter how dangerous you are, there's something that keeps me here." Subaltern sighed, and I only gave him a sad smile.

Kai may have been the true fire element, but I was just as threatening.

"I'll make sure that I free you next time. Even the mighty green ninja won't be able to fight away a whole army." Subaltern promised.

"Not even someone like you deserves mind control."

How fitting, I supposed. 'Someone like me.' A menace, and yet there was someone worse than me in his sentence. At least tomorrow he would be free from this horrible place. There was no reason for him to stay here when he could leave.

Turning away from Subaltern, I shuffled away into a corner and began to practice using my powers again. Over and over again, a small gear clattered to the floor, and I kept my practice going. Subaltern only shuffled around the room, looking inside boxes and muttering little things about electricity and wiring.

By sunrise, my time had only shortened to a minute and forty seconds. Skills did not come in a day, after all. When I looked around for Subaltern, he was sitting on the other side of the room, looking even more exhausted than yesterday.

As I opened the entrance to the room, Subaltern stood up, wobbly and hunched. He stumbled behind me, following my slow movements up the stairs. I was very glad Revanche had never asked me to _not_ help Subaltern escape. The fact that he hadn't, was key to this whole operation. Otherwise, Subaltern would have had to escape on his own.

"Weren't you able to find a solution?" Revanche questioned as we entered the room. I waved my hand back and forth, signaling that we had only figured out part of the answer. In reality, that was a lie.

"Can't you do whatever you did yesterday?" I was about to respond, when Subaltern made his own move. As he grabbed onto my hand, I felt all of my own physical energy draining. Faster than I could blink, Subaltern was diving out the window, and I was left on the floor.

My thoughts slowed, and I could feel a terrible ache all over my body. I could barely keep my eyes open, watching Revanche yell and jump out the window as well. An airy tornado formed around him, leaving only a slight breeze behind. Unfortunately, I couldn't focus. Pain spread all over from my scar, and yet I was too exhausted to feel it.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized that Lloyd had performed airjitzu. However, the fact that I couldn't keep my eyes open was a bigger concern to my body, and so I relaxed on the floor. My eyes closed, and yet I remained conscious.

After a short while, I heard more yelling that was definitely from Revanche. Loud angry steps bounded into my immediate vicinity, and a sharp kick hit my side. Low waves of pain emanated from the impact, but barely causing any sort of discomfort.

More angry yelling that I couldn't understand came from Revanche. I could barely realize that I was still conscious. More and more vicious kicks hit my side, but I barely felt them. I wondered if this was an advantage to being a ghost. Pain wasn't really something I had to worry about, unless I touched deepstone or water.

Somehow, Revanche was kicking me swiftly and I could feel more and more energy being drained. Why, I wasn't too sure. There really wasn't much I could process. All I could really think of was black. I was barely awake, and sleep seemed just out of reach no matter what I tried to do.

Was this what it felt like to be out of control? Every moment passed by, and yet I couldn't remember them. Things just kept going forward, and Revanche eventually stopped yelling and kicking.

Slowly, I started to regenerate my energy. Revanche would walk around me, eating or just trying to do something with his hands. All I knew was that the plan must have succeeded, and that I was pushed against a wall. As far as I could tell, everything was going well.

After a good while, I finally felt energized enough to sit up and face reality. Once I did, I saw Revanche's angry eyes glaring at me from the other side of the room. While the punishment will likely be great, I felt that the gains from the mission was much more satisfying.

"Skivvy. You are to go outside, and let your legs soak in the ocean, for two days." Revanche ordered, and I gasped slightly.

Two days? Was he nuts? The pain would be immense! There would be no way for me to handle that!

"Now."

As I felt my scar burn, I knew I had to get this over with. There was no escape. At least Subaltern was able to escape by diving into the ocean and back into the Cursed Realm. It was what we planned, let him escape and leave me here, while he could plan getting others to attack Revanche.

Shuffling towards the still waters of the ocean in front of me, I sighed. Doing this was going to be painful, but nothing could compare to disobeying orders. This was the longer, but lesser of two evils. Besides, I couldn't disobey unless someone else forced me to. The loss of free will was truly an inhibitor.

Putting my legs into the water, I hissed and huffed as the burning began. However, I felt satisfaction. The war was starting. Whether it would turn out to be a war of attrition or an army against one, it would not end well for Revanche.

All I had to do was wait.

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**And so the two are alone... With Lloyd in his current state, what do you think will happen? Hehe!**

**I hope you guys liked the update, and I'll try to keep updating weekly or so, hopefully not longer than a week and a half between updates. There's more angst to come!**

**Review, favorite, follow, share, whatever. Happy Valentine's Day!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So with my weekly update schedule, I'm going to keep the chapters a little bit shorter for the sake of my writing speed... However, I can definitely say I'm toeing the line of T and M here with the stuff Lloyd does in the future, I swear... He does not like being nice anymore.**

**Pappile: If you want, just let me know what you use online and I'll make a temporary account for it if that makes it easier. **

**Enjoy!**

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I was exhausted. I finally was able to connect the dots and realized that regenerating ghost bodies was taxing on energy. It was bearable for a short while, but then I started getting tired. It was almost like running, as person's body would strain itself to supply oxygen. Except, the act of running was healing, and the oxygen was my energy level. Easy to do in quick bouts, but not often nor for long periods of time. It explained why I could recover from a stab without exhaustion, but Subaltern could not handle the deepstone.

Pulling my legs from the water, I sighed in relief as the pain instantly faded. There was no after ache, just the feeling of being normal, which felt absolutely amazing. I basked in the sunlight, enjoying the feeling of being free from pain, but I knew that Revanche would want me back soon.

Sighing, I got up after a few minutes and floated towards the lighthouse. I didn't want to invoke that kind of punishment again, but at least Subaltern didn't have to go through it. Two whole days of agony was not an easy task to bear.

While I was still here, I could begin to try and wean Revanche off of whatever he was taking. Since the time I left Earth was when I was only about thirteen, I knew very little on such things. A true professional would know how to do this better than I, which was scary. I would not be able to solve a problem by myself, and there was no way for me to learn how.

Perhaps a portal with a book on how to deal with addiction might fall through, but how am I supposed to use it? Revanche can hardly stand to be around me, and with the latest development, I'm sure he's only angrier than ever!

It's not like I can rebel either, I am forced by the bounds of whatever magic comes from my scar and necklace to obey. If Revanche were smart, he would continue to manipulate my thoughts through orders, and I would be none the wiser. Every memory would just vanish, and I would never remember until Subaltern managed to take the necklace off of Revanche.

Free will was very underrated. Here, I had no choice in my future, no guarantee that I'd be myself. While I did stop caring about my wellbeing, this was a very risky endeavor for Revanche and I. If somehow Revanche's anger exploded, he could use me to take it out on everyone else. I am a very dangerous and versatile weapon with that , I was just glad that only those who put their blood in the vial could control me.

Sitting on the windowsill, I saw Revanche eating a small sandwich. As he glanced at me, I squinted in anger. Two days of pain burning all throughout my legs definitely made me on edge, despite my wish to help Revanche get off of substances.

"You've put this entire operation in jeopardy. I can't have you doing that again, you know." Revanche calmly spoke, standing to face me. I refused to flinch, not allowing weakness in this moment.

"I've been thinking while you've been down there. Somehow you keep that rebellious spark, never wavering from your goals. I do appreciate that, the loyalty to yourself. However, it's not something I can allow to continue. You're putting too much at stake. As far as I can tell, altering your mind is also something I can order you to do. So, for the next five minutes, you get to say anything you want. No repercussions, just plain and simple talk." Revanche spoke, and I growled.

"You're going to regret this. Don't you remember Neuro? What you're about to do is even worse. Once that necklace is taken from you, there will be no mercy and no escape. Perhaps you may have been my brother once, but you took my free will, Subaltern, and your own sanity into a hole that will not easily be fixed. I won't kill you, because I could never imagine taking a life again, though I promise agony.

"I hope you understand that it is not just me you will have to face. Should you continue, I don't think Subaltern will have mercy and convince the Preeminent not to begin an inter-realm war. In fact, he might just start it on his own. Stripping me of my mind will only be an act of war, and whether it will be on the entirety of Ninjago or solely on you is not up to me.

"Whatever you do, you're guaranteed to get yourself and everything you know flipped upside down. No one takes the loss of free will lightly. Your actions will have consequences, and I don't doubt that it will have worldwide consequences.

"But take note one thing. Something I have already experienced.

"Will you die a hero, or have you already become the villain?"

Revanche only glared, and sighed.

"Time's up. I hereby order you to act and think in only my best interests, while forgetting every memory that does not strictly follow academics until this moment, while addressing me as only Sir, Master Lloyd, or Master."

A blink.

Where was I?

"Hello?" I looked up to see a… Something not human? I looked down at myself, seeing that I was the same. Where were my fingers, my clothes? Why was I _green_? Why was I on a wooden floor?

"Can you talk?" The yellow skinned thing asked. I opened my mouth to speak, but found no words coming out. After a short moment of gaping, I looked back up and shook my head.

"Do you remember my name?" I thought for a second, then nodded. This thing was Master Lloyd, and I remembered that I was to do everything in his steed.

"How about your name?" I frowned, and searched for the name through my fuzzy thoughts. I had no recollection of my name, nor anything else. I only knew facts, but I wasn't too sure where they came from.

"Well, I'll tell you what happened." Master Lloyd sat down next to me, and began to explain.

"Your name is Skivvy. You're my right hand gal, and you follow everything I do. We lived and laughed, having good times in this tower. But, something happened last night. Someone, I vaguely heard something along the lines of Subaltern, tried to kill you. He did, actually. You're a… Ghost now, just like him. Gosh, I can hardly believe you're still here! It's a miracle, Skivvy!

"Sorry, I wanted to be a little less emotional than this, but I'm just really happy that you're somewhat still alive! Anyhow, since you're a ghost, you have to be careful. You can't touch water, or basically anything that's liquid. Be careful around this," Master Lloyd took out a dagger, "it's made of deepstone. It can cut ghosts. Deepstone isn't exactly fun to mess around with. Just don't do anything with it unless I give you permission.

"I'm sorry I let this happen to you! I tried, and then…" I put a hand on his shoulder. I'm sure that whatever happened wasn't his fault.

"Thanks. At least you're still here, right? We've lived here a good long while, and recently I managed to get some transport back to the mainland of Ninjago. We can't go back there yet though, there's people working with the one who tried to kill you. I'm not sure why you seem to have lost your memory, but you at least seem to know me a little." Master Lloyd smiled, and I smiled back.

"Here, let me get you some food. Ghosts don't really have to eat, but I've heard it's really good." Master offered, and he set off to grab me something to eat. I tried to stand, but he refused.

"You just sit there! I just got you back, I'm entitled to treat you a little." He replied, and I sheepishly smiled. Master Lloyd gave me a pancake, and I ate it quietly. Every bite seemed almost uncharacteristically spicy, and yet it gave me energy like I had never felt before. Well, I couldn't exactly remember much, so it could be considered my first time having this feeling.

"Seems like you're enjoying it." Master laughed, and I gave him an energetic nod. I realized that he wasn't having anything for himself, and looked down at my plate. A good three-quarters of the pancake remained, and I offered it to Master Lloyd.

"Oh! Well, I already had a sandwich not too long ago. It's all yours." He kindly replied. Slowly, I took the plate back, and resumed eating.

As I kept eating, I would glance up at Master Lloyd occasionally. I wondered how close we were before I died. Master Lloyd seemed to be such a nice person so far, and he was willing to talk to me the minute I woke up. Truly, he seemed as if he were someone I would enjoy time with.

I finished, and stood up with the plate and utensil in my hand. As I walked towards the sink, I was grateful that I remembered to walk. If I lost all my memory, than it was good that I could do basic tasks. Putting the dish into the sink, I turned back to face Master Lloyd.

"Do you just want to relax?" He offered, and I frowned. I didn't really have an opinion, so I pointed at him.

"Hm? Oh! What do I want to do?" I nodded in response, finding that his interests would likely be more peculiar than my own.

"Well, there's not too much to do. There's a messy basement we never got to, do you think you'd like to help me clean it up?" Master asked, and I smiled. Of course I'd help!

"Gosh, you just came back into the world of the living, and you just want to do what I do?" Master Lloyd laughed, and I gave my own enthusiastic nod. I had yet to form my own opinions, since I really didn't have any memories yet. Well, I had one opinion.

I liked Lloyd.

As we both shuffled down to the basement, just before Master was going to open the door, he curled over and held his stomach. I gasped, and dived to check for any injury.

"Don't worry, it's just a bit of nausea. I'm a natural born vomit-free person. I just don't throw up. It'll go away soon." Master Lloyd reassured, and I only sighed in response. If he didn't want me to pry, I wouldn't.

"Can you open the door? Once the nausea passes, I'll join you." He spoke, and I obeyed. However, I planned to move fast enough that he wouldn't have to work. Organization could happen later, which I planned to do. As I opened the door with the odd lever, I stared at the boxes haphazardly placed all around the room alongside a few bookshelves. Yes, once Master Lloyd was preoccupied with something else, I would reorganize the boxes. None of them were packed efficiently, they were just shoved in and stacked away.

Quickly, I tried to move boxes left and right, adjusting the smaller containers on the bookshelves. Small boxes were soon replaced with larger ones, and the smaller containers were stacked on top. As I continued my work, I glanced at Master Lloyd. He still looked nauseous, and the piles still appeared chaotic.

"You don't have to work so fast, it's okay to slow down." Master sighed, and I followed his wishes. I wanted to finish quickly so I could take care of him, but if he wanted me to go slow, I would.

Shuffling the boxes around the room, I noticed Lloyd started to look better. I'm sure he noticed too, and began to move boxes around too. Of course, it was all small stuff, but it was nice that he wanted to help.

After a good while, we had managed to organize the room in a somewhat acceptable manner. Later, I would turn it from acceptable, to perfection. Well, at least as close as I could get.

"Well, I think it looks good. How about we go back up for a snack?" Master Lloyd suggested, and I accepted. I had yet to feel fatigued, but I knew he was much more likely to be tired. I closed the door behind us, and we both shuffled up the stairs. As we entered the main room upstairs, Master hummed.

"I just realized, don't ghosts have powers? I think that ghosts can turn invisible, become intangible, fly, and possess things. I don't know if there's any other powers than that." Master asked, and I thought. I didn't really remember much about ghosts, but it seemed like a good basic list of ghost powers. It seems I would have to test out my abilities.

"Do you feel hungry? I can make something for you." Master Lloyd offered, and I nodded, but speed-walked towards the stove. I only knew a limited number of recipes thanks to my hazy memories. However, I was willing to cook instead, as I felt it to be my duty.

"I can cook, you know. If you want to make the snack, go ahead. However, I get to make dinner instead, deal?" Master compromised, and I smiled in acceptance. Well, there was a hint of something else I could feel, but I had yet to identify. Besides, it was small, and didn't set any sort of red flags for me. For now, I would ignore it. I did have a snack to make, after all.

Looking at the food we did have, I noted some marshmallows and rice crisps. Rice crisps. It felt odd, not quite the right name. However, I couldn't determine the true name of the cereal-like substance. Whatever the case, I knew something that I could make. Perhaps I am missing some corn syrup to keep the treat moist later, but I believed I could replace it with some extra butter.

Grabbing a pot, I began to place the marshmallows inside. After pouring in a decent amount, I started the stove with a nearby lighter, and began to melt the sweet white puffs. Master sat at a small table with a chessboard on it, with the white side having a king and queen only, while the black had much more. King, queen, knights, rooks, bishops, pawns. The whole deal.

Perhaps it was a challenge? The battle of a desperate king and queen, unable to flee and barely able to fight.

Nonetheless, I focused on the snack. The marshmallows had melted, and I added in some butter. Continuing the stirring, I added in the rice crisps. Finally, the recipe was almost done, and I grabbed a flat glass pan for the mixture. Once the treat was fully stirred, I poured into the pan to settle. After a short minute of flattening the treat, I grabbed a piece and served it to Master Lloyd. Then, I served myself and sat down across from Master.

"It's certainly a sweet treat, I like it! I've always had a sweet tooth, even from when I was little." He laughed, enjoying the marshmallow rice crisps. I enjoyed it too, getting an energy boost and the sweet yet spicy flavor of the crisps. The liquid, butter oils and such, must burn a little of my mouth and give the spicy flavor, I deduced. All foods likely would cause the spicy flavor, something to keep in mind for future meal preparations.

"Well, would you like to play a game of chess? We don't have too much to do, and I don't want to work on the boxes downstairs." Master Lloyd asked, and I once again accepted.

Sitting on the side of black, I rearranged the white pieces back into their default spots. The board was now reset, and I allowed Master to move first with the white pieces. He smiled, and I felt the same small feeling from earlier. I recognized it, and my subconscious started rising up red flags faster than any of my thoughts before.

It was infatuation.

This was concerning. It may be small now, but the feeling can grow quickly if left unchecked. Even if the feeling is watched, I could still have this emotion grow! While I was happy to have an opinion, this was far too fast. This was wrong, and yet the feeling wished to persist and continue to grow.

"Your move." Master spoke, and I looked down. Being quite poor at chess, no matter the strategy I knew, I tried to make a smart move. Once completed, I returned to my troubling thoughts.

With these confusing thoughts, I had to think of what would be best for Master Lloyd. Considering infatuation would be nothing but a hindrance, there would be no reason to pursue such things. Unless Master Lloyd were to show his own feelings, then I would squash, or at least suppress, the small seed of obsession.

Master moved a piece on the chessboard, and I began my own process of trying to identify my next move. Every time I moved a piece, I felt that I was ignorant. However, I had no true way to improve, and so I was forced to forever feel stupid. At least Master may enjoy the satisfaction of winning, while I continue to help him.

"Checkmate. Not a good chess player?" Master Lloyd asked, and I shook my head.

"I'm sure you'll get better. You did lose a lot of your memory after all." He reassured. I gave a sad smile, knowing that I would not have a way to regain the memories, or figure out my past. Instead, I had a future to look forward to, plans to make, and memories to experience with Master.

"Well, there's still some time before dinner, would you like to practice your powers? Maybe figure them out a little?" I grinned excitedly, I really wanted to experiment with my supposed powers! Master Lloyd laughed and held a had out to the entire room.

"Go ahead! Just don't hit me with anything, I'd rather like to stay alive." He offered, and I huffed in amusement. I would never hurt Master Lloyd, all I wanted to do was follow and protect him.

Walking to an open area, I jumped in the air and tried to fly. My feet landed back on the creaky wooden floor in less than a second. I frowned and tried to believe that I could fly. Wasn't it a basic ghost power? Jumping again, I hoped it would work. Unfortunately, just believing was not the key.

What went with flying? Lift, aerodynamics, freedom? I'm sure that being a ghost meant that my powers had to respond emotionally, otherwise I would've already succeeded. Perhaps freedom, letting go, just not caring would be the answer. It felt right, and so I prepared for a few more jumps, this time with indifference on my mind.

One jump, two jump, and three. My feet kept hitting the ground. However, I decided to try one last time, letting go of the past I'd never find out about.

Then my feet didn't hit the ground after just a second. In fact, they never hit the ground for a good while.

As I looked down, I beamed as I had figured out to fly! It may have been the most basic of ghostly powers, but it was something I could do that I knew I couldn't do before! Success was in my grasp, and I decided to push the boundaries of my newfound abilities.

Angling my body forwards, I hoped that I would move in said direction. I did and found that I could control flight easily. Smiling, I flew a few circles around the room, waving to Master Lloyd as I glided.

He laughed and applauded, giving his own small cheers. It felt nice to be praised, and I floated back to the ground.

"You did great! I'm glad you could master flight so quickly! It certainly makes grabbing stuff from high places easier…" Master Lloyd chuckled. Well, he wasn't wrong.

"Why not try invisibility? I mean, as a ghost light already goes through you, wouldn't it be easy to learn invisibility?" He suggested, and I shrugged. Why not give it a shot, right?

* * *

**Hehehe, I'm trying to give her a break, but that won't happen for just a little while longer... Gotta squeeze in a little more angst, after all. **

**Review, favorite, follow, share, whatever. Have a nice day!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's a longer one, since I'm going to be busy for a while and my writing might not get done. Apologies if I can't update weekly like I want to, but I will be swamped with makeup work and other things to do. I do have a small buffer of writing ahead, but I don't have a lot so I may not post too much this month. However, I'll do my best to keep writing and finish this! From my current word count, I'm about one-fifth through the story! (And boy do I have some plans... Still deciding between a ton of tragedy or a little, this will not quite have a happy ending haha.) **

**On a happier note, I want to thank Pappilie for their fanart! It's awesome, and is now one of my phone cases! (I have a clear phone case and switch out different paper cutouts every while, I have four right now. Two of them are fanart, including yours Pappilie!) They make super cool art, I suggest you check out their Instagram under the same name!**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Many days had passed, at least a good month and a half. The lighthouse basement was cleaner than ever, and Master Lloyd had learned to control his sleepwalking, taking more of some sort of pill to work it out. Alongside his progress, I had learned to use my powers efficiently. Now it took only about a second to activate any and all of my powers, including possession.

Unfortunately, alongside my mastering of my skills, my feelings towards Master Lloyd had grown too.

They were troublesome, causing me to nearly fail many tasks. Master would accidentally sneak up on me while I was preoccupied with my thoughts during a task, and I would nearly drop everything that I held.

It was not all bad, though. The happiness I would feel as I pondered about Master Lloyd and our compatibility was amazing, and I found it addicting. Little actions that he likely never noticed were fascinating and I adored each one. Life felt like it had a purpose, a goal. There was a reason to work every day, to secure Master's happiness.

Whether he noticed my affections or not was a mystery to me. I did my best to act as nothing more than a good friend, not wanting to bother him in any way. My job was to think in Master Lloyd's best interests and put my own second.

A flash of green popped up in my peripherals but disappeared before I could see what it was. Master didn't seem to notice the flash. I squinted and returned to my work, but I was more alert and prepared for something to happen.

"I know there's been something off about you lately. You seem very… Cold yet attempting to be caring. Do you know why?" Master asked me, and I nearly dropped a dish in surprise. Calming down, I set some wet dishes aside and removed my gloves. I turned and faced Master, sheepishly nodding in response to his question.

"Do you want to tell me? It's a bit concerning…" Master asked, and I shuffled awkwardly. I didn't really know best how to charade it within our little sign language. Instead, I signed for a pen and paper, not wanting to shock him with anything. Kindly, he gave a crayon and a small board instead. Why he had always given me crayons was a bit of a mystery, but I never minded. Pressing crayon to board, I wrote out my message:

_I am infatuated with you. How to handle said infatuation and how it affects you is why I have acted oddly._

I gave the small board back, and Master blinked. He read the message a few times, and gave me a look of confusion, disgust, and a hint of hate. I flinched away in embarrassment and fear. This wasn't the face of the Master I had grown to know over the past month! Realizing that he had scared me, his expression changed back into the kinder frown that I had come to know.

"This is… Something. Skivvy, I know you don't know anything about what happened. But you can't fall in love with me. It'll never happen. Something happened long ago, and we'll just never be the same with it. You are my… Friend. Not my love interest." Master hissed, a side I had never seen from him bursting out of its shell.

Something about that frightened me.

Repressing my emotions, I nodded. With Master Lloyd's rejection, it felt much easier than before to forget about my thoughts.

"Good. I'd… Rather keep our friendship rather than ruin it with relationships." Master gave a smile, but it seemed wrong. Now wasn't the time to question it though, there were things to do.

"Would you like to play chess again?" He offered, and I nodded again. I had failed every time against Master, but I tried my best. It seemed to make him happy anyways.

"Alright, here. I'll be the black pieces, you can go first." I pondered my first move, before shuffling a white pawn forward two spaces. Master retaliated, and I squinted in concentration.

Whispers of a strategy cooed to my mind, but I could not keep them in my head. It was always like this, something just beyond my reach that I couldn't get.

Moving another piece, I stared back up at Master. He looked tired, as if he were about to collapse at any second! Perhaps he had too much of the pills, it made him tired at night when he took larger doses.

He noticed my staring, and I signaled his exhaustion. Sighing, he smiled again.

"Yeah, I think I need some sleep." He stood up with my help, and I guided him over to the bed.

After making sure he was comfortable, I shuffled back down into the basement. There wasn't much to do nowadays, and the most entertaining thing I could do was inspect the strange goods of the boxes.

Gears I had seen so many times were gently put on the ground. I didn't know how to make a machine with them, but it was fun to see which gears could move the other.

Then the scar on my arm started burning furiously, and an urge to find Lloyd and a necklace filled my thoughts. The pain was unfamiliar and to avoid it, I dashed back upstairs, only to find more ghosts like me surrounding Lloyd, one prying the necklace away from him with a terrifying speed.

Giving a silent cry, I dashed for the one holding the necklace. The other four must have seen this coming, as they crashed back into me with just as much force. Struggling against the intruders with all my might, I aimed to hit something to make noise. A ghost to my left, wearing a hood just like the rest of them, pulled out a chained metal collar.

As the open collar got closer, I struggled harder. The others were having a hard time holding me down, and my scar was burning so hot I feared it would set on fire.

_Click!_

It sealed into place, my neck immediately burning alongside my scar. Silent sobs wracked my body as my struggling became less and less. The agony was bearable for only so long.

I wished it would stop, that someone could take it away! Thinking was nearly impossible, the only thing I could focus on was the pain. I barely noticed the ghosts letting go of me, as I dropped to the ground and collapsed against the floor.

The collar weighed heavy on my neck, adding to the world of pain I resided in. There was nothing I could do against it, and I continued to silently scream.

Vaguely I heard Master, but there was so much pain I could do nothing. He kept saying something, it must've been important because it was from him. However, my efforts to ignore the pain and listen to him were in vain.

Soon, I registered being jostled around and I decided to stop focusing on the world. There was only the agony from my body and the urges to retrieve the necklace that the other ghost had stolen.

* * *

Time had passed, and I still barely registered the outside world. However, the baseline pain was now becoming more bearable, though not by much.

The liquid fire in my body was still worse than anything else I had ever felt.

I focused on my surroundings from time to time to hopefully distract myself. Sometimes Master would be there, staring down at my trembling form, and sometimes he wasn't. There were occasions where he seemed to be building something, and I didn't have enough mental strength to guess what.

I knew it was a dark cave of sorts, the rocky ground grating against my ghostly skin like sharp knives. Small lights were placed around the cave, just enough to create a moody atmosphere. The thing we used to get here was

Unfortunately, I couldn't fall asleep. My head often felt heavy and overwhelmed. I was lucky to even be thinking in sentences.

One time I heard Master yell at something. I didn't know what, and I could only hear Master through the pain. Sometimes things clanged against the ground.

Time was very, very weird. What used to be a short bit of time lasted an eternity. Yet, my pain often left me unaware of my eternal surroundings. I never really moved anymore, and no matter what I did, nothing made it better. The urges to get up and find that necklace still burned, but in a strange paradox, the pain outweighed it.

Whatever it was, it was stupid and I desperately wanted it gone. There was nothing good coming from it. If it was some sort of way to get me to grab that necklace, it obviously backfired.

More and more time passed, until eventually the clanging of things on the ground stopped. Master picked me up, and said something about my pain going away. It was comforting, despite being unable to think clearly about what was happening. Touch only made the pain worse.

...

I think he lied.

It didn't get better. It got worse. Now with the burning I felt an ache.

With this kind of suffering, I was quite tired of existing. Every second of my "day" was torture. No matter how good I was at trying to detach myself from the agony, it never went away.

Sleep still escaped me, making every second more exhausting than the last. The thing around me making me feel as if I were being crushed and causing ache to settle into my core.

Every once in a while there was more yelling. Other times I heard Master crumple to the floor in exhaustion. Despite everything, time still dragged on. At least the cave wasn't loud. My sobs were always silent.

One day the yelling got really bad. There was clanging, and there were sounds of smacking. Then I realized there was a second voice. In my state, I had no defenses, and I couldn't fight for Master.

I felt powerless. I _was_ powerless.

As the noise became quieter and quieter, I started to cry silently. Of course, I had been doing that a lot lately. Yet, this time it was a mix of pain and not understanding. I hadn't questioned Master, despite what I believe were lies about making me feel better. He never removed the collar still around my neck. He probably built this cage.

Had he not cared? Wasn't I his friend?

A hand touched mine, and I tried to focus on who it belonged to. When I heard the voice of someone other than Master, I realized it wasn't who I wanted to be with. Screeching silently, I shuffled to the other side of the cage. It was quite painful to move, and as I crumpled on the opposite side, I continued sobbing.

The voice that didn't belong to Master kept trying to say something, maybe it was comfort. It tried to be slow and soft, but it only served to make me more nervous. I had to decide between listening to whoever could've hurt Master, or ignore it in favor of avoiding more lies.

Out of fear that Master could be hurt if I didn't listen, I tried to push past the pain.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here. You remember me don't you?" It seemed sad. I shook my head to answer 'no' and I felt a hand touch my head.

"You're in so much pain… I'm so sorry. You don't remember me…" The voice was sadder now. I ignored its statements as best I could, I couldn't doubt Master.

"We haven't figured out how to get rid of the pain yet. We took the necklace, but it hasn't freed you yet." There was a 'we'? My slip of anger allowed the pain to surge against my mental block, and I struggled to push it back down.

"I… I want to try and take the pain away from you. Or at least help dull it. Its something we did once, but accidentally. I- uh, would you like to try again?" It asked, and I frowned. I didn't know what it was planning, but this pain was so agonizing…

Master was in trouble. I couldn't help if I continued to be trapped in here, Giving a hesitant nod, the hand on my head lifted away.

"Okay, I'm going to take your hand, and you have to think about your pain and giving it to me. It'll work, I promise." I doubted that promise, but I had very little to lose.

Putting my hand out, we linked and I let down my mental barriers for the pain. Pushing it onto the voice, happy memories from the other side entered my own mind. I could feel myself crying in relief, the pain was gone! However, the other ghost… I could feel his name was Subaltern… Was screaming at the top of his lungs. It was him! The ghost that killed me! Perhaps it would wake Master up, and we'd be safe again, even if it meant going through more pain!

Then a memory passed my head, a book about wizards and magic, being read aloud to Subaltern. By me. This wasn't right, I can't have been dead and reading to the person who _killed me!_

Frowning, I waited for more memories, but I could feel Subaltern struggling against the pain I was causing. I wanted answers, thus I took back some of the pain. I kept pulling it back until the screams turned into loud huffs. I had taken back a little over half the pain, but it was nothing compared to what I had been experiencing not too long ago.

Memories flowed back my way, building wonderful pieces of architecture and carving into bone spires. I looked constantly focused, as if trying to scrub away a bad deed from my record. If anything, Subaltern should look that way! He had the gall to come back after killing me! But… The pain relief was nice.

It was strange, why were these memories here? I didn't remember any of this, and it only served to plant doubt in my mind. However, a stronger urge told me to ignore those doubts. For once, my silence was of my own will.

Back and forth we displayed memories, using it as a way to share the pain. Subaltern had many more memories than I, but many were the same. Only in recent times had he met me, apparently. Otherwise, his memories were of despising whoever held the title of the "Green Ninja," and how one day he would become him in spite of destiny.

Interesting, I supposed. Petty, and yet it inspired a campaign of epic proportions in his mind. Then I changed him, his goals. He saw the truth of the "Green Ninja." Perhaps I had met the ninja in my past.

All of a sudden, a memory popped up from Subaltern, showing Master as the Green Ninja.

I let anger flash across our connection, demanding he explain further. This was something I refused to believe! Master was certainly interesting, but he was not to be slandered with lies like this! Subaltern began to whimper, and I huffed silently. He would not get rest until he explained the memory he had just shown. Master was my only friend, and Subaltern was just the one who killed me!

Flashes of explaining the necklace and its power flew through my head. The shocked face of Master as he appeared through a portal. The struggle of fighting him as he took my necklace and I dissipated before Subaltern's eyes.

Slander. Pure and hateful slander.

I knew Master, and he was far more than the hatred filled person that I saw in the memories. More pain slipped through the connection, and Subaltern began groaning. It served him right, there was no reason to lie as such about Master! It was payback for killing me too!

The tone of the memories shifted to others I hadn't seen before. Plans to set me free. Subaltern was begging me to use rational thinking, to try and understand what was going on. I was confused. Rational thinking? That would mean the scientific method, if I could recall correctly. It was something I could swear I learned long ago.

However, I could not conduct an experiment, nor could I use previous research to help me understand. My knowledge was limited, as I only remembered academic facts. It was an interesting idea though, and so I took back some of the pain. Subaltern sighed in relief as some of it faded away. I still hated him.

I considered a plan, since this current position was advantageous for me. Seeing as Subaltern held sympathy for me in his obviously fake memories, I could keep him here until Master woke up again. Besides, the pain removal was quite satisfying, and made my time much better than before.

Yes. That would do well.

* * *

Master must have been quite tired, he had slept for a long time. Subaltern was impressed and disturbed by the amount of pain I had endured without going insane. I didn't particularly care about his opinion, but it was thoughtful at the least.

I had shared as many memories as I was willing, and often just repeated the ones I had already shared so the link could keep going. Subaltern had many, many years of memories. He hadn't run out, but they were not interesting.

Then I felt a soreness around my neck being removed. Keeping quiet, I did my best to not react, but this was a mind link. My surprise was already across the connection before I could stop it, and Subaltern let go immediately. The pain rushed back to me, but I was a little bit more prepared to deal with it than before, the rest giving me more strength.

I opened my eyes to stare at Subaltern, and saw Master place the collar on his neck. Retribution! I had been avenged and saved by Master! The pain was worth the wonderful act before me!

A pained grin adorned my face as I saw the shock pass through Subaltern's eyes. Master Lloyd looked ready to make Subaltern suffer. He was my hero.

"You should've left while you still had the chance, I'm not letting you get away that easy this time." I cheered for Master, the other ghost should undergo just as much pain as he inflicted on me!

"We're going to free her whether you like it or not!" Subaltern's bratty side showed, and I stared back at Master. He whispered something in Subaltern's ear, and proceeded to throw the other ghost before yanking the chain around his neck back.

Knowing that the next while was probably going to be nothing but fighting, I refocused on ignoring the pain again. It was easier than before, and I did have to thank Subaltern's pity for that.

With my thoughts clearer than before, I began thinking about the time. How long had it been since I had arrived here? I hoped I was not a burden on Master for too long, but I was still a burden now. Perhaps more rest by using Subaltern could help.

Even better, I could force him to be my pain relief! I wouldn't even have to worry about this at all, and then I could help Master! Yes, that was the plan… With Subaltern out of the picture, I could get back to work!

Patiently, I waited for the fighting of Subaltern and Master to die down. Their struggle was quite loud, or at least Subaltern was. Master was silent, and sometimes whispered something to the ghost that killed me. I hoped they were cruel words, my existence nearly ended because of him!

As the yells became quiet thuds, I opened my eyes to face Master and my new tool. Master was currently kicking Subaltern across the cavern, but there was no sickening crack. Just the rattle of chains and silent suffering. Something very, very familiar.

Eventually, Master became bored of the kicking and thrashing, and proceeded to gag the other ghost. Subaltern stared at me in pity and pain, none of which I cared for. Besides, he was going to experience more of the latter soon.

"You seem like you have a plan, don't you Skivvy?" Master curiously noted, and I nodded eagerly. Truly, the pain relief would be amazing. I'd be more productive than ever before!

"Here, have him. I trust you know what you're doing." He tossed Subaltern at me, the dust settling as the other ghost realized my plan. Muffled cries and weak shuffling to try and get away from me were heard and clearly ignored.

Grabbing onto his arm, I forced my will to overpower his own. I transferred the pain I had been suffering full force into my killer, and he began screaming through his gag. Truly, it was wise of Master to think so far ahead, hearing him actually scream would be quite annoying.

I wondered if he felt the same way when he killed me.

Ah, but that's right. His fake memories showed me that he cared. Well, I certainly didn't, and his memories could shove it!

I was in charge of him now. Thus, my first order of business was standing up. Pulling up the deadweight with me, I huffed in annoyance. However, it was the first time I could stand in forever!

"Woah… You're able to stand?" Master pointed out from across the cave. I smiled, though I shook Subaltern's arm to show why.

"How does that work?" He walked over, staring at my vice-like grip. I pulled out my other hand and put it on his arm, smiling. Letting go with that spare hand, I frowned and shook my head.

"Oh, if you let go of him you go back to the pain?" Correct! I smiled again, and Master hummed. I tilted my head, and pointed to his throat.

"Hm? What's wrong?" I pointed at his throat again, before trying to signal a necklace on my own. Now that I was free from the pain, I had a strong urge to find it for him. The pain from before was gone, replaced with the strange thoughts.

Yes, I wanted to retrieve that necklace.

"The necklace?" Master spoke after a few seconds of trying to figure out what was going on. Giving a signal of affirmation, he frowned.

"You want to get it back?" He was always so perceptive to my thoughts, a savior I didn't deserve. Getting back that necklace would show my care.

"Hmm… I'll think on it." But I wanted to do it for him! It was almost mind bending how much I wanted to get it back for him!

"I-I…" Master stuttered, seeming unsure. I backed off a little, making him uncomfortable was the last thing I wanted to do on my list.

"Like I said, I'll think on it." Master reaffirmed, and I deflated a little. That necklace, it seemed so enticing. I was no longer clouded by the pain, I could easily retrieve it. Besides, my powers were strong! The people outside couldn't stop me.

I swear I started to buzz in place. The pain, which I was starting to think might have been some sort of inhibitor, was now gone. There should be nothing to stop me.

But Master Lloyd didn't explicitly say yes or no.

My thoughts began to split, a part of me screaming for the necklace, and the other to obey Master's wishes. It didn't hurt, but it seemed so dizzying…

The vague whisper of Subaltern's will suggested I go and find the necklace. Or rather, it said I shouldn't and I decided the opposite of his opinion was likely more valuable. However, his will was becoming weak. The pain was really getting to him, I supposed.

It was decided then. I would leave for the necklace, and bring it back! A surprise, hopefully a good one.

Knowing that Subaltern would need rest for the journey, I took back a lot of the pain. I instantly felt him relax and sigh with relief, while I sat down and waited for Master to sleep. It wouldn't take long. Making sure that Subaltern was prepared to stay here was likely taxing on him.

Eventually, he fell asleep. However, the cage I was in prevented me from leaving. The size of my head would not let me through the bars, that somehow were solid no matter what I did. Huffing, I ordered Subaltern to get the key and get me out. Otherwise, I would wake up Master and we'd go through the process all over again.

Hoping to avoid pain, he quickly followed my orders. He grabbed the key and scratched his head in some sort of confusion. I brushed it off, thinking that he might have been rubbing a migraine away instead.

He hobbled back, and I noted his lack of flight. Perhaps he was drained of energy. Nonetheless, he was still going to be used anyways. He continued rubbing away at his migraine, until he got close and opened the cage. I grabbed Subaltern roughly, and put my pain back into him. The gag once again muffled his cries as he was forced to rest on my back. I had no desire to carry him bridal style.

Dashing out of the dark cavern and into the night sky, I flew towards where I could see Ninjago was located. I dashed along as fast as I could towards the large continent, realizing it was closer than I originally thought. An advantage I wasn't even aware of! I seized the opportunity, and sped across the sea to land on the beach.

Breathing in the humid air, I was sure it must have been spicy. However, Subaltern was feeling that right now, and not me. Now I needed to find the necklace.

Gut instinct began urging me in the direction of where the necklace might be. Leaping away into the skies, I turned invisible, though the chain of the material around Subaltern's neck remained untouched by my ghostly power. Maybe that material was something to be worried about.

Then, a dark spot of the night revealed itself with the golden glow of light. How warm and cozy, but they might have the necklace. I refused to let them keep it.

Careful to sneak up on the ship, I knew that the collar around Subaltern's neck was going to hinder the mission. Fearing discovery by keeping it on the other ghost, I detached it and quietly wrapped it around a nearby ladder.

Quickly diving through the walls of the ship, I began my hunt for the necklace. Luckily, my search was quick. My necklace sat in a small case on a counter, and I frowned at its simplistic opportunity. Nothing was ever this easy.

However, I knew it was the real one. I could feel it, almost taste it, I was so close! Stepping up to the necklace, I reached down to swipe it when Subaltern groaned softly. I froze, and listened for the sound of others being awoken by his noise.

Nothing happened, so I attempted to grab the necklace again… However, my skepticism was wise. Shame I didn't listen to it.

The battle cries of several people dashed at me with chains, and I was unable to get away. I thrashed, recollections of the same kind of event flashing in front of my eyes. I huffed and hissed, then Subaltern was ripped from my grip.

All of the pain flared back, and the chains ached as they were wrapped tightly around my form. My entire body flared with the fire I had previously redirected into Subaltern. Panic began to join with the pain, letting me focus on the outside world just a little.

Subaltern was crying. He was sobbing in a ball on the floor. The others were sighing and giving small cheers of relief, they had "retrieved" me? I glared at them the best I could before letting myself focus on the pain.

I felt myself being moved, and realized I was put into another cage, much like the one Master had created for me. I seethed with anger, and felt guilt and fear. I had let Master down. I should have known better than to ignore his input. He was always the wiser one.

I only hoped he would forgive me for my terrible mistake.

* * *

**Yeah... Sorry about the cliffhanger! I couldn't make this any longer without making this ultra long, and if I went shorter, I felt bad that it would only be a small bit of content for being gone a long time. However, we're getting closer to happy times! Next chapter will be happier, I promise. After all, you guys deserve some good things after all this... **

**Review, favorite, follow, share, whatever. Have a great week!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Guess who's got writer's block when I literally have days to write? That's right, ME!**

**Because of that, I have decided to slap down this massive chapter with a million feels so that you guys can have something to read while I struggle to come up with ideas and get my writing in order. Also winter storm Ulmer going through bombogenisis was wack here. Got some nasty wind gusts with the snow, I was just lucky to not lose power. Lights liked to flicker every once in a while.**

**Nonetheless, I am going to continue to be busy for the rest of this month, so uh yeah. Hopefully I can muster up some inspiration. After all, I don't have any magic forward-posts after this, this is almost the end of what I've written...**

**Enjoy!**

**Edit of May 24th, 2020: I fixed a plot hole, where Myrana gave away her necklace. This breaks one of the rules of being a Solenade, where you can't "get rid" of the necklace. Luckily, inspiration has struck to make her decision much worse hehehe...**

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With the sun rising and burning against my eyes, I feared the worst. Master Lloyd would be so disappointed and angry with me… Would he abandon me? I disobeyed his advice, and went off on my own… I was his only friend! I shouldn't have abandoned him!

I supposed it would only serve me right if he did the same.

Huffing quietly, I rattled my chains again. I knew it wouldn't do any good, I couldn't phase through them, but it was something to bother my captors at least.

Then one of them walked into the room. He wore white, and that was as much as I wanted to know about him. Kneeling down at my bound form, with the chain leashing me to a solid pole, he began staring intensely at my face.

"Why aren't you free yet? What component are we missing?" He hummed, staring at my scar on my arm. He glanced further down and noted the large scar running across my left leg. I often ignored it, the dark green skin scraggly and rough from around the knee down, I didn't remember its cause.

"You were always clever, despite your future knowledge. There has to be something you know, even if it's instinctual." He mumbled again, and I only glared back. I had to keep my dignity, despite the pain. Eventually, he gave up and left. After being sure that he was gone, I set my head down on the hard and splintered wood. It was mild compared to my pain.

Was this despair? The crushing feeling of defeat? Knowing that you couldn't do a thing to get out of your situation, and even if you did, there was nothing but the worst on both ends?

Annoyingly, one who wore red walked in. Couldn't they leave me to suffer in peace? My chains rattled as I stared up at him. He was quiet, studying me much like the last one.

"I remember that scar. I remember both of them." He sighed. More lies, I could sense it.

"The necklace alone didn't free you, but why? Was it an order that kept you back?" I shuffled in defiance, scowling through the ache in my body. It seemed to be something he was looking for.

"That's it! I knew you were still in there, no matter how much I hate you!" His bittersweet proclamation echoed through my mind as he dashed out of the room. I huffed and struggled against my chains, I had to stop him!

Of course, the chains won as they always had. Despite it being a fruitless effort, it gave me comfort. The last shining bit of hope that I could escape and return to Master Lloyd with the necklace, and prove my worth.

"Guys, come on!" The red one ran back into the room, several others spilling into the small area with him. Black, white, blue, maroon, and two old men. While they were excited, I could tell it was just for relief, and not for my own wellbeing. When I stared back at the one wearing red, I noticed the necklace dangling over his chest. I hissed, but remained still. It could be my only bargaining chip!

"Let's hope this works. I hereby declare that any previous order is to be voided, a fresh slate!"

The pain died away.

There were so many things going on at once, I started reliving my life and my afterlife all at once, a cacophony of noise and flashes, important and unimportant details streaming faster than the speed of light! Breathing heavily, I felt myself becoming me again, and I began sobbing happily.

"I-I, my name is Myrana! And if anyone ever tries to bury me again, I will not hesitate to tear their organs apart!" I screamed to the heavens, one of the largest smiles I have ever had plastered to my face with pride.

Today I was free, and I would make sure I stayed that way! Never again will I fall prey to being a slave of no free will! The sky will be set ablaze, the fiery existence of stars will freeze, the largest of black holes will become habitable before I let this happen again!

"And that's her alright." Cole sighed, bringing me back to reality. I stared at him, and started to giggle.

"I'm free. I'm finally free. I know who I am. I know who I am!" The joy and relief in my voice… It sounded as if I had discovered my homeland was alive. Of course, it wasn't, but at least I was here and free!

The aching chains around my body fell away as Kai placed my necklace around my throat, where it belonged. He backed away, and I stared him dead in the eyes.

"As the free ghost you have all made me today, I hereby owe you my existence. Even though my Solenade status already has me in debt…" I awkwardly replied, and the group nodded respectfully.

"And we hope you can forgive our realm for causing you such pain." Wu replied, and my smile wavered.

"Your realm isn't at fault. It never was. It's… It's _his_ fault. Lloyd, Revanche, I don't care at this point what name I use! He caused this, not you." I insisted, and Garmadon frowned.

"My son has changed for the worse over the years." He lamented, and I floated up to him.

"Please, if anything, this is all my fault. I changed him. He was meant to grow up with a kinder heart. All of you were. Don't blame yourselves. It's okay to pin all of the blame on me."

"I wish I could change my mind that easily." Was his neutral response. It triggered a memory I had forgotten about in my joy. The cage, and how I had forced Morro, my only friend in the Cursed Realm, to endure my pain.

"Where's Morro?" I worriedly asked, and Cole was the one to respond.

"Last we saw him, we let him stay in a guest room. He was really shaken by what happened. If it weren't for him, we would've never known you were coming." That's right, Morro wasn't "scratching the migraine away" in the cave, he was using code! With all the fancy technology the Ninja had, he must've had some sort of communication device in his ear!

"As my first act of having free will back, I'm finding him!" I proclaimed, and sped out of the room to find Morro. I passed door after door, glancing inside the small windows of each to hopefully find my friend.

Behind the last door of the hallway, Morro was curled up in a bunk bed, a stress ball of air spiraling between his hands.

"Morro? Morro, it's me! I'm back!" I sobbed as I banged my hand against the door, not daring to intrude again without his permission. I heard his hand scrape against the door, and I hoped he would open it. Yet, I wouldn't blame him if he just yelled at me to disappear.

"Do you realize what you did back there?" The quiet response scared me, his first words to me sad and questioning.

"I know."

"Then tell me! Tell me why!" Were his broken yells from across the wooden split.

"I-I ripped apart your mental walls to use you. I _violated_ your _mind_. You were my pain relief in times where I viewed Lloyd as my god. I-I used you as a _tool_. Just so that I could make _him_ happy! I didn't care about your mind, I just wanted the acceptance, the sick sense of love I'd get back if I did something he'd approve of!" I sobbed, my crime slamming through my heart, tainting the joy of being free.

Silence was the only thing that followed.

"I can't believe that in my delusional state, I thought that giving my curse to you would make the world any better." I whispered, slumping against the old wooden door. A few more moments passed, and I contemplated leaving.

"You forced your mind to _tear _into _mine_. You practically stabbed needles through each and every one of my senses, and _abused _me." His voice barely made it through the planks between us.

"And yet, I still can't bring myself to hate you."

I curled up into a ball at his door, memories flooding back. The days when Lloyd and I were younger, when I was years younger than my current mental age of nineteen. When I forced Lloyd to suffer my apathy and tears, and he pushed through the brunt of them all, and ending up as a possible addict who put me through _brainwashed slavery_.

"Morro, what if you end up like Lloyd? You keep _caring_, and he cared, and he turned into one of the monsters he feared lived inside me! I don-"

"I'm not him." His strong response was punctuated with a small smack against the door, and I sighed.

"I'm not a good person. I'm terrible, horrible, a demon and plague across the realms." I tried to warn him.

"Call me stupid then, because I still think that you matter." With a small creak, the door opened and revealed Morro. He looked so tired, and yet there was a warm smile adorning his face with kindness in his eyes. A slight gasp left my throat as I slowly floated up to his height.

"M-may I hug you?" I whispered, unsure if he'd be alright with touch.

"Yes. Yes, of co- Oof!" I practically crashed into Morro, laughing and sobbing on his shoulder.

"I won't let you down, I won't let you get hurt! I swear by my existence, I'll do better this time. I have to, I don't think I could lose you!" I vowed, and Morro hugged me back.

"You know, you weren't the one who caused that pain." He whispered, and I shut up immediately.

"But it _was_ me."

"You're made of your memories, your control. He took that away, and so you weren't the one who did that. You were just the unfortunate vessel." Morro insisted, squeezing me tighter.

"I wish it were that easy to think that way."

"Then I'll help you. We can get past this, together." I started sobbing on his shoulder, my emotions running wild. I wouldn't lose him like I lost Lloyd. There would be no future in store for me if I lost Morro.

This was my second, and last chance. There was no going back. It's do or die.

"_Thank you_." I whispered to him softly, my voice cracking in and out of existence. I could not cry tears, but my trembling form was enough to show my true emotion.

We continued to embrace one another, fearful that letting go would cause the other to fade away. Time seemed to pass so fast, and I wished that it would slow down for us, this snippet of peace.

I wanted desperately to show Morro my emotions, but I knew better than to ask for another connection. After what I did, I was already surprised he let me touch him at all.

Eventually, we let go of each other. If I had tears, I know they'd be streaming down my face like rivers.

"Y-you know, maybe one day I can s-share my memories. I still remember yours from…" I trailed off, wanting to ignore my recent past.

"I, yeah. I think I'd like that sometime." Morro smiled, and I took a deep breath. We had things to worry about.

"How is the Cursed Realm?" I asked, and he frowned.

"They're undergoing some cleanup efforts. A whole barrage of portals have been forming lately." He replied. I hummed, concern flowing through my thoughts.

"That's not good. There's nothing I can really do about it though, and we have someone to deal with here. I'm very, very angry and would like some compensation." I growled, and Morro put a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sure you'll be getting it soon, I'm sure Lloyd's on his way by now."

"Yeah, you're right. We should probably make plans for that." I sighed, disappointed the peace wouldn't be able to last forever. I shifted away from Morro's hand, and he smiled.

"Hey, I'm glad you're back." His earnest reply warmed my heart.

"Come on, lets go talk with the others." I gestured out towards the hallway, and we flew back to the main control room.

"Woah, I didn't expect all of you guys here in the same room." I blinked as they were sitting around a temporary table. Garmadon, Wu, Kai, and the other Ninja, all quieting as they saw us both.

"We're trying to figure out what to do. It's… Not easy fighting a friend." Kai sadly replied, and I frowned.

"Yeah, it's not an easy job. At least he's short one of the most dangerous weapons around, me. And I can promise you, I will not be letting him get away." Jay nodded as I spoke, knowing very well my violent side was powerful.

"What do you have as a plan?" Zane inquired, and I shrugged.

"I've got an outline of a plan, I suppose. We know two things for certain: Lloyd will be coming after me, and that my necklace can give him control alongside the rest of you, excluding Nya and Wu. You were not on the island at that time. Something has to be done to keep him from regaining control over me, and to use his incessant will to find me against him.

"So, we want him to come here. It's our home turf, and we can use that as an advantage. I'm not leaving without revenge, I'm fairly set on giving him a piece of my mind after turning me into a slave. We also need to keep the Realm Crystal away, if it's here. He gets control of that, it's going to be an absolute pain to gain any sort of reinforcement.

"We can have him come here and set up a trap. I do want revenge, but I never want murder. Never again." I finished, and Cole frowned.

"But there's a hole here, what are we going to lure him in with? Alongside that, if we let him get his hands on you, he's beat all of us in the past! How are we going to get you away from him?" He exposed the holes in the plan, and I hummed.

"I already am the lure. Second, I can't give away my necklace or store it somewhere. This necklace is something I hate, and yet I love it for the wonderful things it has let me create in the Cursed Realm." I frowned, grasping it gently.

"I can only strengthen and tighten it. Seeing as you, Nya, are an excellent welder and have much more experience with metals than I do, I request that the necklace can be strengthened. I don't know the rules of altering it, which I doubt is possible, but adding something like armor to it would be greatly appreciated. It will also give me an outstanding advantage." I turned to face her, showing off the necklace as a sad reality.

"Though I know that 'I can't get rid of it.' and I don't trust the world to be nice to me, so if you don't mind, I'd like to oversee the creation of my necklace 'armor' in order to prevent the wrath of whatever ancient rules control this thing." Nya agreed to my request.

"Necklace protected. Second, perhaps we can beat him, in a new way. I know how to use my ghostly powers now that I've trained, thanks to Lloyd. He can still influence me, but I can do the same. By possessing him, I can neutralize him until we can find a prison secure enough to hold him down. If I recall correctly, Kryptarium is the most secure in Ninjago. Though I want you to make sure he stays there, it would be very easy to escape if he plays his cards right." I warned, and the others nodded.

Then I heard a thud. Quickly shushing the others, I pushed Morro away and went off to find Lloyd. Of course, I remained invisible in my search. Luckily, Lloyd had not gotten far and was stumbling across the deck of the Bounty. Before he could pull out some sort of Deus Ex Machina device, I returned the favor of losing your free will.

Fighting against Lloyd's will was easy. He seemed so out of it, which set off several alarm bells. Flexing the taller body, I found it was difficult to control. The body was tired, and Lloyd was too. A memory flashed up of the pills I knew Lloyd took.

"Oh my god he's dying!" I blurted out, the deeper voice of Lloyd mixing with my own.

"We need a doctor, we need a hospital!" I screeched, watching as a few of the Ninja came out onto the deck.

"What?" Kai asked, and I saw colors blur. Lloyd was so exhausted he couldn't even see!

"Lloyd's _dying_! He needs a hospital!" I could feel the influence of the body growing as I continued to maintain control. I wanted revenge, not an _overdose_!

As his body continued to become more and more sluggish, I forced Lloyd to lie down against the rough wood of the Bounty's deck. At this point, I could feel the exhaustion rolling through us in waves. If I continued to stay, I would fall asleep with Lloyd and become useless to everyone around me.

Pulling myself out of Lloyd's body before it was too late, I panted with the strain of keeping him awake. Feeling the ship moving with great speed, I kept my feet on the ground. Staring back down at him, he was already passed out, and I feared for his life. There was very little you could to keep someone alive if they overdosed as far as I knew.

"Oh god, he's exhausted…" I whispered out, noticing Kai and Cole were trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Do you know what happened?" Kai demanded.

"He's probably overdosed, how long until we reach a hospital?" I replied hastily.

A selfish and egotistical side of me reared its ugly head inside my mind, annoyed with Lloyd's current state. I wanted him alive. I wanted to bring down divine judgement of my own, force him to suffer through agony, leave another permanent mark on his psyche and body. Death was going to be a gift he wasn't going to get from me. I couldn't have it, neither should he, without payment of course.

I huffed quietly, doing my best to ignore the thoughts. Lloyd was warped into this monster because of me, no reason to make it worse. Revenge could come in many forms, and beating him would not be very satisfying.

Knowing that Cole and Kai would do their best to take care of him, I stepped to the rail of the Bounty. As I stared out at the fast-moving scenery, I tried to understand my feelings, or lack of them. Once upon a time, we were siblings in all but blood. There was a point where I was willing to take a literal missile for him.

Then I changed, and so did he. My paranoia and fear of being hurt stemmed from my homeworld, something unheard of in Ninjago. It flowed into Lloyd, until the dam broke and I was forced to become wild. The trauma of my actions affected Lloyd, and he turned me into a slave. Then he brainwashed me.

Yes, perhaps it was wasteful to bring more damage to Lloyd's psyche. But he turned me into someone I'm not, and so I'm going to do the same back. My mind was the only place I held sacred to myself, and his actions broke my security. So I'll break him, again.

I held no empathy for the monster that made me a slave. Clouse tried once, and he ended up dead. In all respects, Lloyd is lucky that I don't want to kill. I didn't want another death on my hands. But maiming him?

Now that was something I had no qualms about.

Seeing as the country landscape turned to city, I turned back to face Cole and Kai's panicked concern.

"Are we close?" Kai asked quickly, and I shrugged.

"I'm seeing city, so I'm assuming yes."

"Good, he's not doing well at all. He's barely responding to anything, and he's getting colder." Kai muttered, and I stared back down at my previous captor. I held no love for him anymore. After this, I hoped to never see him again.

"You said he might have overdosed?" Cole questioned, and I nodded.

"He's been getting pills from Ronin, I don't know what they are. Chances are, after I escaped, he took a lot of them to deal with it. Thus, the overdose. Honestly, my main concern is that you might not have the medical training here in Ninjago to deal with an overdose. I was lucky that your doctors know how to handle a coma when I was alive; this is something that you don't really know about." I sighed, noting that we were getting close to the rooftop of a hospital.

"Get ready, you'll need to find him a doctor quick. To save time, I'll stay back. There's no reason for me to follow him into the building." I deadpanned, stepping away from the railing and back towards the inside of the Bounty. The quiet shuffling of the other two ninja were all I needed to hear, knowing that they were doing what they thought best.

"Will he be alright?" Jay's meek voice was amplified by the wooden hallway, and I tilted my head slightly.

"I hope so, I don't want him to get off the hook that easy. However, I can't guarantee anything, it's a bit of a mess right now." I honestly replied, not in the mood to sugarcoat my words.

"Oh."

"You're still afraid of me, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Hm." I had no real way of responding, but I was sorry that he had changed so much due to me. I guess you could say I pitied him.

Giving a small nod of acknowledgement, I shuffled into the main control room. I expected less people to remain in here, but then I noticed the security cameras. A good way to keep eyes on the situation, I supposed.

"Well, I guess we'll see what happens." I huffed, and Garmadon turned to me.

"Do you not care for my son like you once used to?" There was a tone of anger in his voice. I was ready to reply with my own.

"Obviously he doesn't care for me, being turned into a slave and all that. Brainwashing here and there too, surely I should care for the person who decided it would be a good idea to strip me of my mind." My sarcastic response caused him to quiet down. Frowning at my own misdirected anger, I sighed.

"Look. There was a time I'd die for Lloyd. But one thing led to another, and I'm not a good influence. When he literally enslaved me, that was crossing a line. Killing someone is just the end of someone's life. It's not happy, but we all face it and Ninjago doesn't send many people to the Cursed Realm. What _he_ did warped what I considered to be _me_ and used my body as a tool to do whatever he wanted. It's like being possessed and you don't even realize it. You can't fight back. There are many things I might let slide, but that is not one of them." It was as close to an apology as he was going to get.

"And that was the nice side of you, wasn't it?" Morro noted.

"Yes, and no. You were wise only to take the necklace from Lloyd. If you had hurt him while I was in that state, I would have gone insane. I would treat you much worse than my lack of emotions for Lloyd. There would have been no mercy, and no prisoners. However, I only acted on behalf of him. If you didn't do anything against him, I wouldn't care about your existence. I dare not speak the worst I could imagine him doing, in fear that it might happen." I replied, and he nodded.

"It would be to use you again, wouldn't it? But, you with only a clear goal in mind and not a single shred of sympathy for anyone you hurt other than Lloyd." Zane was the one who surprised me, coming up with an almost exact answer.

"You were always very clever, Zane. If he did that, what shred of my morals exist would be gone. If you think I'm a bad guy now, you've yet to see me when I let go." I warned, and the others shivered in recollection of my behaviour.

"Then we won't let it ever happen." Morro stepped forwards, still supporting me despite my dangerous personality.

I wished he knew how much that meant to me.

"I still very much want my revenge, though. Ninjago does not have prisons like my homeworld, and I believe that your punishment system is far too lax for something like this." I insisted, and Garmadon was the one who stood up for Lloyd.

"And what do you plan on doing to him, hm? I will not let you just kick my son down!" He pointed his staff towards me, anger clear as day on his face.

"What is it that you expect me to do? After what he's done to me, I would very much like a sentence that lasts a large chunk of his lifetime, if not all of it. However, to put your gracious green ninja behind bars would be such a blow to your society, your _hero_ turning out to be the most evil villain of them all. The publicity would spread the violent nature of slavery, and could cause others waiting in the dark to become even worse than before.

"Or, I could do what I want, and your entire society will not be affected. You know very well I don't want murder, and I don't find his method of using drugs to be my flavor. If you don't want me to hurt him, you're asking far too much of me." I hissed.

"Alongside that, it's been a fight to keep the Preeminent from beginning inter-realm war. The way your realm has been treating one of her most beloved subjects… She is very willing to fight, bringing others down with her." Morro sighed, and I frowned.

There were times I even wanted a war, against Lloyd at least. I expected the Preeminent to take this as an act of war, but I doubted she would tell the difference between citizens and people like Lloyd.

"Can't you see what you've done already? Is it not enough?" Garmadon urged, trying to convince me to stop.

"I've already thought about that. There must be payment for this, he violated my _mind_. Nothing is as sacred as my mind." I deadpanned, but my thought continued inside my mind.

"_Which I'm surprised Morro hasn't gotten revenge for._"

"Just let her do it, it's not worth trying to fight against her. Every time we've done it so far, things only get worse." Jay defended, though meek and quiet.

"You cannot be defending this behavior J-" Garmadon's shocked response was cut off by Kai.

"Seriously, don't get on her bad side. If she gets out her anger, the better it is for us. I spent a long time fighting against her, and she will not hesitate to fight back with fists." Kai argued, and Garmadon stared down the rest of the Ninja, seeing the emotion in their eyes. Garmadon had seen me do horrible things, but he did not realize my determination.

"He is my son, I cannot leave him to face you alone!" He growled, facing me with determination of his own.

"Fine then. Fight with him if it makes you feel any better, I don't care." I huffed, and Garmadon found this to be a suitable compromise.

"Knowing I cannot truly stop you, I suppose this is the only option I have." Defeat was accepted, and his shoulders slumped reluctantly. Careful to avoid poking at the deal any longer, I changed the subject.

"Well, what we can do now is fix our problems and continue to plan more diplomatic meetings. I'd prefer we avoid war, and plans are a good way to start." I suggested, and the others nodded.

"I think that would be the best course of action as well." Zane spoke up, and I nearly sighed in relief. A crisis was avoided for now.

"Then let's get to it."

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**Yay emotions! I actually tried to research some symptoms for the sake of not making this super terrible. I'm probably toeing the line of T, if I'm not already in M...**

**Well, I apologize that I can't update very much this month, but don't you worry! I WILL get this story done! It may take time, but it's gonna happen! It's one of my goals, since this would be my first successful trilogy!**

**Also, huge thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, or does anything to show their support for this story! Every time I log on and see the traffic stats, I'm blown away by the fact that at least 1 person reads something I've made every day! It's really amazing that you guys like this that much! I'm glad you all enjoy my story!**

***Initiates Micheal voice***

**And as always,**

**Thanks for reviewing, favoriting, following, sharing, making art, and more!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm alive! Sorry that this chapter is short, but I just want to prove that I'm still here and I'm sticking to my promise of finishing this story!**

**Edit of May 24th, 2020: Just added one line to continue the fix for the plot hole. **

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"He's being sent to Kryptarium with Cole and Kai as we speak." The calm voice of Zane permeated the tense air aboard the Bounty. It was only us, as the others didn't want to stay, nor did they have the ability to negotiate as well as Zane. Four days of negotiation since Lloyd's admittance to the hospital was not particularly interesting. However, the sparks and quick welding skills that Nya displayed during the creation of the necklace armor was impressive.

"Good. I'll give him a day to adjust." I nodded, my plans remaining unspoken but understood.

"Garmadon will be leaving later today in preparation." A slight tone of concern flowed through his voice, but I didn't care for it. I was ready to fight them.

"Then all is well."

"Shall we review our agreements?" Zane suggested, knowing that the topic of Lloyd was a touchy one.

"Yes. Then I would like to end our meeting today and begin later in the Cursed Realm. There is a cleanup process going on, and I must prepare for tomorrow."

"Of course. First, we have agreed to become allies, in which each realm will help another should there be war. This alliance can be broken by the will of the Preeminent as spoken through at least five delegates and a common light message from the Preeminent to confirm. Ninjago is also allowed to cut such ties through declaration of the royal family. Due to the current state of relations and the economic status of the Cursed Realm, trade and travel will be restricted to those of high importance, which is defined as…" A short few definitions later, and the small agreement was made.

Shaking hands, the meeting was adjourned and I left to find Morro. Eventually finding him up on the deck, I saw his vacant stare.

"Something's bothering you." I pointed out, knowing it wasn't even worth it to waste my breath by asking. The truth was already laid out before me.

"It's a lot to process." His quiet reply danced along the wind, slow and melancholy.

"What I did was terrible. It was horrible. It likely breaks every basic law of every land I've been to. 'A lot to process' is certainly an understatement." I agreed, leaning against the rail and staring down at the land below. When the air became nearly still, I understood that it wasn't just me that was causing this.

"There's something else, isn't there?"

"Yeah." Morro kept his response short and snippy, but I knew this was a sign that this was bothering him more than I thought.

"Does it have to do with _him_?" A long pause hung heavy in the air, weighing us down with the burden of our sins.

"I don't want to be him anymore." Another round of silence followed as I remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.

"Every day of my life I did nothing but train to be the 'Green Ninja,'" Morro spat out the name as if it were water, "and in the end, I died. Then, I spent every moment of my afterlife planning to take the green gi and become him myself. There was nothing more in the world I wanted than to be the destined chosen one! Then I met you." The wind picked up slightly, his emotions leaking out through his elemental power.

"And in the next moment, you were taken away. Used as a slave to fulfill his desires! You were never yourself, constantly forced to bend to his rules and requirements! Being the 'chosen one' didn't seem like it was that good anymore. There was a lot I would've done to become destiny's hero. But mind-bending slavery that erases the soul of the victim? That was going too far." Morro growled, the air continuing to fly faster, yet remaining as a light breeze.

"Now every time I think about being him, all I want to do is throw up my non-existent insides. _Nothing _disgusts and disturbs me more than what he's done. Yet, it scares me. I've been chasing after this dream for all of my existence. When I finally get there, all I find is that it was a waste of my effort. All of the dangerous stunts I pulled, my death, the years I spent planning, every second was thrown away in hopes of becoming a monster. What am I supposed to do now?" He sighed, and I shrugged.

"That's up to you. You can let go of it and rise above the burden it weighs on your shoulders, or you can try and hold onto it and fall prey to the desperation; to cling to something that you _think_ is a part of you."

"How do you propose I do that?" Morro went slightly on the defensive, likely finding the end of my comment to be distasteful.

"You can say the dream isn't worth it. Look at what it brings and decide that you deserve better. Otherwise, you can keep scrabbling at it and hope that every glance at anything that remotely looks like the green gi gives you that old rush of ambition, of hope to become something you're not. Whether you choose to look back or look forward is something that I can't change."

"It's difficult." Morro mumbled, turning away.

"It's always going to be difficult. But change never stops."

"I wish it would." I only sighed in response, not wanting to push him too far.

We stood in silence as we stared out to the horizon, the bright sky hugging the earth in an intense light.

"I miss the clouds."

"But there are clouds." Morro spoke, but I shook my head.

"Not the right clouds. On a day like this, I'd be able to see clouds that would streak across the sky in a straight, small line. That meant there were planes in the sky, people travelling across the windy highway towards wherever they wanted to be. Here in Ninjago, many planes are smaller and don't fly nearly as high. None of them make the clouds." I explained, staring up into the nearly empty blue of the atmosphere. Morro remained quiet, understanding that this was my attempt at showing that change never stops.

"How do you deal with so much pain?" He whispered, the air falling still.

"There were many times I sought a permanent solution. However, I have failed in all attempts. My methods of coping are most likely unhealthy." I admitted.

"It has to be better than feeling this way." Morro mumbled as he combed a hand through his hair.

"No, it's not."

"Then how would it help you cope?" He spat, failing to see how terrible it was to think like me.

"It's constant self punishment. I tear my emotions apart from myself in hopes that they don't come back, that I can ignore what tells me right and wrong. When they don't go away, I force myself to do things for others, a constant hunger to fill an obligation that will never be finished. No matter what step I take, it's overshadowed by the guilt I have everyday. You recognize that the pain is horrible, that you don't deserve it. But for me, agony is almost always a welcome companion." I hissed back, hating to admit the truth.

Once again, the silent surroundings took over, our words left behind in the dense air.

* * *

Many would think it was dishonorable or immoral to fight someone who had only come out of the hospital a few days ago. In most circumstances, I would agree. Becoming the monster you swore not to become was definitely a poor decision.

Today though, my emotions were raging beyond my own control and were desperate to find some sort of release. There was no substitute for the revenge my heart craved. I wanted retribution, a chance to fight against the pain that I believed unjust.

And there, standing right in front of me, was the subject of all of my rage. The fiery fury held behind those eyes were not dampened by the obvious tiredness of his body. Next to him was his father, Sensei Garmadon in all his protective glory.

Jeers and cheers echoed through the prison, eager to watch our battle take place. I did not come here for them though, and focused on the two I was about to fight.

"What are your terms for our arrangement?" I requested, barely keeping myself from hitting _him_ as hard as I could before the battle even began.

"You're letting me choose? Are you stupid?" Lloyd giggled, and I frowned. It seemed that he had gone insane, or at least more unhinged, in my absence. Garmadon only looked concerned.

"I want a fair fight. It would be unsatisfying if I were only able to just hurt you in a second." I switched my frown for a smile, expressing my hatred proudly.

"Fine then. No powers for any of us, only fists, and we finish when the other yields." He smiled, and I spent no time worrying about what game he could be playing.

"I agree to your terms. May the battle commence at your command." I spoke as my feet touched the ground, submitting to the laws of gravity.

"Then let's begin!" Lloyd screeched as he raced towards me, his father trailing behind him.

I was no fighting expert, despite my experience with violence time and time again. The best I could do was dodge the attacks as well as I could, forced to adapt to my lack of weaponry. My pen had often been my greatest shield and sword, a threatening tool more powerful than just my hands alone. Fighting two experienced ninja with no such assistance was not made any easier with this handicap.

Step, step, step, roll. Jump, twist, step, step, roll. Every punch and kick they made were always keeping me on the defensive, Lloyd bellowing with laughter as I kept moving to keep myself from being hit. Though as I kept watching, I saw this was going to be his downfall. His confidence in himself kept him distracted from how tired his body actually was. The movements were just a tad too slow, he had sloppy footwork, and a dazed stare to top it all off.

Garmadon did not have this problem though, and his attacks were far more dangerous than Lloyd's. I needed to get Lloyd to slip up and hurt his father accidentally. With such reckless power held within those punches and kicks, Lloyd could easily knock his father down.

In a sloppy and ungraceful twist, I flung myself in front of Garmadon as Lloyd followed through with a kick. I dodged his attack, but so did the Sensei. I huffed as I skidded across the rocky flooring beneath, ready to try again.

Every attempt failed, and I knew Garmadon started to see a pattern after the third try. He would slide out of the way before I got close, "coincidentally" putting his feet near my own in an attempt to trip me while obeying his peaceful mindset.

Lloyd on the other hand, did not. Every attack held his full force, his laughs quieter now and a more annoyed expression began to settle on his face. It was my chance before he would exhaust himself and pass out before I could get at least one punch in.

When I accidentally put my foot in the wrong spot, Garmadon took it as a sign to move, but he did so too early due to my helpful blunder. With a kick to the face by his own son, Garmadon was pushed back with enough force for him to hit the wall and leave a few small spider cracks.

Lloyd gasped as he realized what he had done. I wasted no time in retaliating, punching and scratching at my enemy with no remorse. Every expression of pain was a visual and auditory symphony, the beautiful indicator that I was doing any damage.

I tried my best to break something, any part of his body that I could reach. Unfortunately, without using powers, it was quite difficult. It was not impossible though, I certainly heard a glorious crack and a yelp of pain when I pulled Lloyd's hand-claw backwards toward the floor in one quick and forceful movement.

"I YIELD!" He screeched after this crack, realizing that I wasn't going to stop if he didn't say anything. I let go without any questions and let him nurse his hand while he stumbled towards his father. As I stared at his retreating form, I felt good. I got what I wanted. Perhaps I could've gone farther, but the rules were rules.

Slowly, I began to fly away, the cheers of the prisoners fading away as I made my way back to the Bounty and Morro, ready to finally head back to the Cursed Realm and resume managing the portals and whatever else was going to be thrown my way.

What really surprised me as I flew back was that my satisfied feeling didn't fade. Often I would hear that revenge never felt good afterwards. Somehow though, this felt right. I didn't feel like I had done something wrong!

I enjoyed the feeling while it lasted as I flew, knowing that wouldn't be long until I would be under stress again.

When I finally arrived back at the Bounty, I landed on deck with a smile. Morro turned to face me, Realm Crystal in hand. He seemed surprised, and I assumed it was due to my smile.

"Looks like it went well?" Morro asked in confusion, and I shrugged.

"I won, probably broke his fingers or something. For some reason, I feel great!" I laughed, and Morro raised an eyebrow.

"This kind of behavior isn't normal, I know. But there's something so satisfying, so freeing about finally getting some sort of payback! I can now exist without feeling the urge to punch him into the planet's core." I sighed happily.

"Whatever you say…" Morro mumbled as he held the Realm Crystal to the sky, opening a portal.

"Are we leaving the crystal here?" I asked just before Morro began to jump.

"No, we're taking it with us. That is, under the condition that you're not allowed to use it without an escort or partner. Both you and Lloyd were considered to be too dangerous to keep the crystal around, but you were the lesser of two evils." He admitted, then dashed into the Cursed Realm.

I followed behind, and then was shocked by the sight that greeted me. Portals were forming everywhere in an insane fashion, appearing faster than the residents of the realm could erase them.

"Oh no." I muttered, dashing off as fast I could to begin helping. Picking up piece by piece, I frantically scribbled at the edges of portals and sealed them shut. By some miracle, when I scratched at the edge of spacetime, the holes through universes would seal faster by my hand.

However, it was all hands on deck for an operation this size. The massive amount of portals worried me greatly, even as I began to close them. The spacetime continuum was obviously suffering extreme damage, looking more and more like swiss cheese every moment. How they had managed to stave off complete destruction was amazing.

Grabbing a rag that had fallen through a portal, I continued to scrub frantically. I was pulled in for the long haul.

* * *

**Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted. I know this chapter is really lackluster compared to what I usually pump out, but this is all I have written right now. I wanted to get something out to kickstart my motivation for longer than just a day or two. I hope you enjoyed what little I had to offer today!**

**Review, favorite, follow, share, whatever. Have a great day!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm still here! I've got more schoolwork, and not a lot of time to write, but recent inspiration has struck and I have written ahead some more! I'll have to consider whether this is still okay as a T rating, as my main worry is just continued violence and cruelty.**

**I probably will leave for a long time again after this, but I will try to write more, and I am still determined to finish this! It may take me a long time, but we'll get there. **

* * *

There was no need for sleep as a ghost. If I tried to sleep, it wasn't the same as it was in life. It was more like being on the edge of consciousness, where you could hear people but forget what they said.

Yet, my mind was begging for it after I had closed hundreds of portals. Every old piece of my home only put more weight on my shoulders, left scattered around like a junkyard. It was a sad sight, a world of dead souls being covered in the remains of another.

Somehow, the portals began appearing at a far slower rate when I began to close them up. It was nothing short of a miracle, all things considered. If I had not returned, the entire realm would likely have been consumed by the holes in spacetime. I could only be thankful for the fact that it didn't happen.

What puzzled me was my ability to keep the portals closed longer. I was a ghost just like everyone else, but my presence just seemed to stabilize them. At this point I could only hypothesize why this happened, and none of it seemed to make sense.

Well, admittedly I couldn't tell left from right at this point. Trying to think hard on anything was the last thing I wanted to do, and there were still insane amounts of portals to close. If anything, I'd say only half of them were gone. I was still pushing through and closing them with no breaks while the others rested. They had been fighting so hard for so long, and against such a powerful force, I felt obligated to run myself into the ground before stopping.

Scratch, scratch, scratch. Fly around a bit, scratch again. Repeat again and again.

Then a portal of the larger variety decided to spit out a boat at me. With the speed of a bullet train, it tried to impale me and split my form apart, but I remained whole as always. I screamed as the rapid acceleration was pushing and pulling my body in ways that would have instantly killed anyone alive.

Of course, I was given the blessing of being dead, and had to struggle against the massive metal boat. Pushing back as hard as I could, I hoped that I could slow or stop the boat. However, it's weight far outmatched my strength, and barely seemed to slow.

As the air flew past me and the metal kept digging into my chest, I just kept hoping that whatever this was would end. Luckily, my thoughts were answered as the wind shifted direction and began to push with me. Slowly but surely, it stopped trying to crush my body and crashed into a small floating island. I stumbled backwards and laid on the ground and just groaned in pain. The after-ache tingled throughout my body, leaving behind pins and needles of fire.

"Are you okay?" I heard the familiar voice of Morro yell out at me. My brain soon forgot what he said, and I just gave a noise of agony. It was time to rest, I really needed it. Closing my eyes and just writhing on the ground, I began to let my mind fade from reality.

* * *

"_Hello again._" The void of my mind was enlightened as the Preeminent came into existence, morphing from a green orb into a regal figure, with a dark green ethereal dress settling into place beneath her feet. Long dark hair reached down her front, every movement dragging them slowly through space, as if she were underwater. What surprised me the most was that her figure was not that of a Lego that I had come to get used to, but a reflection of the human design that I had missed greatly. The mind was really a fantastical place.

"Miss Preeminent! It is nice to hear from you, it's been a while…"

"_I'm sorry that you have gone through so much, and I was not able to help._" She sighed, and I shrugged.

"It's nothing you could change."

"_As the Cursed Realm, I should have the power to protect every single one of you._"

"You're an entire realm. While you have power, it's only applicable here and in limited amounts. It is unfortunate what happened, but there is not a lot that you can do."

"_What can I do? I cannot have my subjects being swept up from beneath my feet and treated like you!_"

"I'm not sure, really. The most I can think of is an alarm system, where others can call to you that someone is missing or is at risk. Though I don't know if that is very effective."

"_Perhaps, we will have to look into such a system._"

"There is just so much change over the time I've been here that I'm not sure whether we should continue to bring in such drastic changes so quickly. It can cause a lot of issues." I sighed.

"_Another day then. My apologies if this subject would be a recent wound for you, but I wish to inquire about your time in Ninjago._"

"What about it?"

"_The treatment you received could be considered an act of war, and I am very inclined to view it as such. However, I understand that you are the best advisor we have in the realm and comprehend the idea of war. Considering you were also the subject of poor treatment, I want to know if you deem war a beneficial plan._" The Preeminent growled, and I frowned.

"War is the last thing I want. Do not engage in war, especially since this is the actions of one and not many. I've also already instilled diplomatic relations, which a war would cut that to pieces. And there is too much pain that is involved with it. Please, only begin war if there is no other choice."

"_Very well. I suggest you return to the tears, they continue to bring me unease._" Her regal voice echoed, obviously in disagreement with my statement. She faded away into the black, the world becoming green once more.

* * *

I returned to the real world after who knows how long, staring up at a ceiling. I was inside? As I began to sit up, I stretched out my achy limbs. No one was around, and I realized I had to do my job.

Shooting off into the sky, I searched for more portals to close. Finding a good sized cluster, I noticed that we only had about a fourth left to go on the portals. I sighed and began working again, more rested and prepared to handle the job.

Portal after portal disappeared, and I felt good as each one faded away. Finally, this whole debacle could be over.

"Glad to see you're doing alright." I heard Morro from behind and I immediately turned to face him.

"Morro! I'm glad to see you!" I laughed as I greeted him with a smile.

"I'd hope so! Considering I had to help stop the boat trying to tear you in half!" He laughed back, not even worried in the slightest.

"Yeah, that wasn't particularly fun…"

"I hope you're feeling better now."

"Could've been worse." I shrugged, and Morro facepalmed.

"You exhausted yourself and got hit by a boat moving faster than people could blink, I don't know how you think it could've been _worse_!" He exclaimed, but I only sighed.

"Lots of ways it could've been worse. I'm fine now though, and that's all that matters."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes." Morro fell silent for a moment.

"Well, if you need to talk, just come and find me."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Alright. I'm going to keep working on closing portals. See you later." Morro sighed as he flew away, leaving me to feel a bit regretful by myself.

I had done something wrong, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was. I couldn't pinpoint whether it was my flippant attitude about being hit by a boat, or that I easily admitted that there was worse than a boat.

Nonetheless, I had a job to do. I couldn't afford to waste too much of my time.

Continuing the monotonous process, I kept my thoughts in the back of my mind. There would be no way to control them if I dared let one ."

He flew off into the distance, leaving me behind. I stared where his green aura disappeared and I frowned. I knew somehow I had missed some sort of social cue. And I felt bad about it too, knowing that Morro was the person I knew most here in the Cursed Realm.

Turning away, I continued my task, closing the last of the portals.

* * *

Bright green danced along the skies in celebration, as every portal was closed. Songs were played and sung, it was a party to beat Mardi Gras.

Even I was in a celebratory mood, mingling with more strangers than usual and occasionally speaking to the Preeminent. It was a glorious event, the realm reaching the highest peak it had yet.

Sports events and competitions were held in the amphitheater. Trade was opened to Ninjago for a short while, food being distributed to as many ghosts as the people could afford. Neighborhoods would suddenly burst into cheers, and Heart was always full.

Though at the moment, my mind was focused on looking out at the realm before me, sitting atop a bone spire on the legislature building. While I had enjoyed the festivities, there still hung a cloud of guilt above me. The stress that had been laid upon the citizens and the queen herself was only due to me.

I needed to build again.

Gliding towards a new space, I stared at what could be. What else was there to build?

After a few different designs flashed ahead of me, I felt that a market was the best to build. Quickly, I began to pile up materials that had randomly fallen through, collecting all that I could carry and marking other junk for when I could get others to help me place things down.

Yes, this would end up nicely.

* * *

"You need to stop."

Well, it had been a while since I had heard those words.

"Stop what?" I turned away from my project, twenty greek-themed stands patiently sitting upon the dark green ground, colors mismatching in a patterned yet chaotic way. Carvings laced their sides, weaved to portray misery through a cheerful lens. Sharp lines danced around the inside, yet curved and dainty shapes twirled around the edges.

"You've been doing this for a long time. You're ignoring everything by building whatever this place is." Morro argued, and I shrugged.

"So? That's what I've done this whole time."

"It's not healthy." My emotions boiled at that statement. Several responses danced across my mind, but I kept them silent. No need to start a fight with the only person I really considered a true friend.

"It's not that simple, we both know that. It's complicated, it's ugly, and I don't want to be consumed by it."

"Neither do I, but every time I look at you all I can see is…" He trailed off, and I looked back at my stands.

"See this? See my whole life hidden behind these carvings and buildings, poured out for the whole realm, but still buried underneath so many stupid layers that no one can figure me out? Is that what it is?" I spat out, my temper burning with a passion.

"Yes, and it's hurting you!"

"I know that! I deserve it! At least it's productive, because obviously I've shed too many tears, and can't spare a single drop of water anymore." Internal suffering, always my best defense and knife to my own heart.

"Something's wrong with you, isn't there?" Morro seemed to realize something.

"Really, what gave you the impression of that?" I sneered, facing back at him.

"You're ignoring everything. Don't you remember all the things you have to do, to uphold and protect the realm?" A valid point I could not ignore, slapping me in the face.

"I do. But I can't… I need to do this. I have to finish it."

"Do you now? What, sit here and ignore the responsibilities you have? Do nothing? I came here because I wanted to make sure that you'd stop trying to achieve some impossible dream of making yourself suffer enough, but obviously you need a slap to the face with reality!" Morro sent a gust of wind at me, a gentle nudge that felt like he had punched me.

"And what do you expect? I'm not even an adult!"

"You're right, but you've taken on these responsibilities. You need to wake up and do them! We all may be immortal, but the rest of the realms aren't. Work on this later, but right now you have jobs to do."

Well, he wasn't wrong. But what did he expect?

"I'm not leaving." I picked up my tools, floating back to the stand I was working on.

"_Yes, you are._" The Preeminent?

"Sounds like you've got the message." I frowned, staring up at the sky.

"_Morro and I have been taking care of a lot while you have been here. While we understand and respect you, we cannot continue taking care of the issues that have plagued our communication with the realm of Ninjago. You are needed." _Another message I had not heard in many, many years.

"I cannot ignore a request of yours. Consider it done." I sighed, and the triumphant look on Morro's face was almost heartwarming.

"_I am glad to have reached a speedy agreement._" The Preeminent seemed humored by my response, and I wished to roll my eyes.

"You have played your cards well." I huffed, and Morro laughed.

"I knew you probably wouldn't listen to me, no matter how much you cared. It's a bit of a pattern with you, after all." He smirked, and I knew it was true. Of course, I didn't want to admit it.

"Guess you know me well." I shrugged, giving one last glance back at my incomplete creation.

"You'll finish it, just not today."

"Let's just… Fix what needs to be fixed."

"Then I guess we're going on a trip." Morro held up the Realm Crystal, opening a portal to Ninjago.

"What now?" I complained, and Morro raised an eyebrow.

"Does the 'Hands of Time' mean anything to you?"

"You've got to be kidding me." I deadpanned, diving into the portal. He followed behind me, and we appeared in the remains of a burnt Monastery.

Wu stood in front of us, staring above at the sky, lost in the secrets it kept; of which I knew not.

"You've called in the right person for time travel." I interrupted his staring, though he only spared me a short glance.

"While I wish to fight this on my own, I have seen what you have gone through to do the same. I am often a fool, but today I hope to be wise." Not once did he tear his eyes from the heavens above.

"Well, that doesn't surprise me." Morro poked, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's probably not the best time for that right now." I replied. As soon as I finished, the blue above me opened to reveal a vortex, no, two vortices! Green, red, yellow, and blue, wisps swirling into the dark infinity of Ninjago's timeline.

"Woah." Morro gasped, and I only felt anger.

"We fight until Acronix yields." Wu's words only egged me on, ready to beat them into oblivion.

A figure burst from the hole in the sky, dark hood with a green cloak and all. I did not hesitate in becoming invisible, diving towards the stranger.

"Why hello there!" I laughed, knocking Acronix down.

"New friends? You're getting old, Wu!" He shouted, aiming to hit what he could not see. I simply danced away, delighted to toy with the person who dared to mess with the timeline willingly.

"In his age, he finally made a wise choice, Mr. Acronix. I'm the best expert on messing with Ninjago's timeline, and you had better yield before this reality falls apart!" I hissed, grabbing onto his cape and raising him towards the vortex, but not letting him escape my grasp.

"Ghosts? You'd partner with _ghosts_?" Acronix teased Wu, even from this height.

"Seems like I've already got you in a compromising position, and it hasn't even been a minute. Is it really in your best interest to insult me?" I wiggled his cape, bluffing that I'd actually drop him. At worst, I'd possess him. I dared not kill again.

"Oh, really? Says a Solenade!" He pointed to my arm, as if it meant something to me.

"Belongs there. I could describe to you in perfect detail of how I earned it, if you'd like. Does murder sound pleasant?" I hissed, and he shut up real fast.

"That's what I thought. Now, are we going to yield? Or do I have to leave a stain on the remains of the monastery?" I held out the cape, letting it slip slightly. A yelp of fear followed, and I could see the defeat in his eyes.

"Yes, yes, I yield!" I gently lowered him down to the ground, ready to hand him over to Wu when another thing fell out of the portal before it closed, green and electric, leaving a shockwave to burst out through Ninjago.

It was a rush, a blur. I could remember it before knowing I had felt it. The cape would leave my grasp, I'd rush to grab what Acronix wanted desperately, Wu would shout, and we would end up here.

Well, here was me being hunched over the blade and attempting to prevent Acronix from grabbing it as I could feel something tear my insides apart. I reached to grab the blade and throw it away, but a portal opened on my hand, forcing me to miss and letting Acronix steal it back.

"Not so confident now, huh? And it's only been a minute into the future!" He laughed, and Morro instantly came to my defense, wind howling as he tried to separate man from blade. With a steel grip, Acronix jumped above the wind currents, diving towards Morro.

"No!" I screeched, forcing my body to move and protect him.

Green, lightning, the _shock_. From the outside in, striking for the core, the glowing time-travel blade aimed true. I could feel my body struggling to translate the energy, both immortal and foreign. Sparks, and more portals forming, deadly freckles of time sprouting all across my form.

It was worse than Lloyd, no matter how much I didn't think it was possible. My atoms were being ripped apart, put together again, and forced to move in the fourth dimension. There was no way to describe it, my ghostly nerves set alight with information, yet in the moment they didn't quite exist.

The fabric of time was tearing apart at my seam, trying to fix what had punctured holes in the delicate space. I had tried to scream, to express the new pain that the universe chose to make me suffer for my crimes, but all that had fallen out were earthly things, slicing up my insides.

Being aware of the outside world was impossible at this point, when my own reality was a color outside of the imagination, flashing brighter than the whitest of whites, burning green with an intensity far beyond that of a powerline, solid black creating voids beyond my sight. A sensation that couldn't be replicated by anyone else, a punishment just for me.

In that moment, I wanted death again. If the afterlife was this cruel, where I could never reach an ultimate threshold of pain, it wasn't worth living.

But of course, that wasn't the case. It never would be. The Preeminent would never take over Ninjago and die in the waters beside Styx, I would never be free of the curse placed upon me.

Thus, I could only writhe on the stone, continuing to vomit the objects forced through my center, while the punctures of spacetime clawed into my ghostly body with white-hot spikes, my reality flipping back and forth between what was, what would be, what could be, what should be.

One by one, the tears began to fade away, leaving a light green circle behind in every space they occupied. Imaginary colors faded away to reveal the true space around me, quiet and peaceful. Of course, peaceful in all areas other than the random objects that ejected themselves from the portals and even through my mouth, teddy bears of children and razor blades littering the floor beneath me, lucky to not be covered in red.

I couldn't speak, and I couldn't move. The afterglow of pain made sure of that, hazing my view and making it horrible to move my limbs at all.

Within the back of my mind, a creeping guilt merged with the fading pain, staring at the hazy visions of children's toys. The reminder that they were all dead only made the pain worse, more punishment for my sorry excuse of a soul.

Time only seemed to drag, every moment captured in a hazy view that seemed so perfectly accurate. Like the slow motion of a camera in snow, catching the flakes falling out of view.

When the blur became clarity, I began trying to sit up, hands catching onto the blades beneath, but only a small annoyance in comparison to my unearthly tendons begging to be left alone.

Speaking was still out of the question, but groaning in pain was easy as I finally leaned forward and curled in on myself. I could see countless circles left behind, unnatural in their shape and amount, but looked like they belonged.

Eventually, the pain finally became an ache I could handle.

"Acronix took the time blade." Wu whispered, careful not to irritate my senses. Or perhaps he was also in shock, I couldn't tell the difference.

"Are you okay?" Was Morro's question, but I stared up at him, and he knew.

"Oh."

"I'm so tired." Three words, yet they felt like lead.

"We can't stay." I could hear the sadness, the understanding that passed between us. I lied there for a few moments more, preparing for the ache that would arise from moving.

When I finally did stand up on my own, my body felt like hot wax. Aches burned everywhere, slow and heavy. At least it was better than before, far less invasive and more manageable. With that, I could finally start thinking and find a way to get rid of those things.

"I'm sorry that I have brought you into this, it was a mistake-" Wu began to apologise, but I cut him off quickly.

"No. You were right to bring me in. I know my weakness now, and I have the most drive to bring them down. And… With the current state of Lloyd, it's difficult to fight enemies as a smaller team. Now it's my job to make yours easier." I hissed, staring down at the perfect circles still imprinted on my skin. Unnatural, even on a Lego. More so by the fact that I was still short compared to everyone else, representing a child. It would be their mistake.

"But I cannot in good spirit-" Wu tried to start again, but I refused to listen to him.

"Good spirit or not, they're still out there. Besides, considering the diplomatic relations between our realms, we are your ally. It's either me, or someone else."

"And if something goes wrong, I'm still here." Morro agreed, sticking up for me. It was nice of him, I noted.

"Then what will you do when another…" Wu stared at the glittering blades sitting nearby, "incident like this happens. It would be far too cruel to send you against an enemy who with one punch, can give you an awful and horrible pain." Quiet, reserved. He was traumatized too. I didn't blame him.

"A valid point. Admittedly, I do not want to face the possibility of being hit by another Time Blade. It was…" I trailed off, unsure of how to say it, "It was. It was and I want it to stay that way. But time is _my_ domain. It is my burden to bear. If they think that I will simply allow them to manipulate it without a fight, then they are fools." I hissed, fury reigniting in my veins. Sensei Wu remained quiet for a moment, then sighed.

"I know there is no way to stop you. Many have tried, and you still remain. All I ask is that you do not treat the Time Twins with cruelty." Wu gave in.

"I will do my best to restrain myself. I cannot promise any more than that."

"It is enough for me." The old man resigned to face away from us, and stared into the distance with guilty eyes.

* * *

**Pain is Myrana's best friend at this point. Don't expect it to leave either... **

**Well, if you care to read these Authors Notes, I would like to let you know that I am very busy. Really, really, busy. My schoolwork has increased by a substantial margin, and it won't go down until at least another year from now. I'm struggling in classes, and I have exams coming up as well. I may not post for a long while again, but I will try. We will see. But always stay confident that I will finish this!**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to be back soon!**

**Review, favorite, follow, share, whatever. HAVE A GOOD DAY!**


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